Curiosity
by ExceptionalyOrdinary
Summary: What happens when a carefree, Communication Messenger NetNavi is given the task of delivering a letter to the horrible and frightening Bass? Rated T for Bass is rude. Contains OC. Early chapters revised!
1. Delivery

**A/N: So this is an idea I had running in my head for a few days now, and I finally decided to try write it out.**

 **Set shortly after the end of the manga.**

 **Criticism and opinions are always welcome! I'll be happy to know what you think.**

 **Enjoy~!**

 **~Chapter 1~**

* * *

"Lei!"

A sudden yell was heard and echoed through the corridors of a big office in one of the top CyberNet city buildings with none to answer it.

"Just where is that girl now?" A desperate and exhausted voice exhaled.

"Probably on the roof again, sir." A younger, second voice answered it.

"Remind her that she has an urgent message delivery meeting in 5 minutes, and AGAIN, that breaks are to be no longer than 30 minutes!" The first voice said, irritated.

"Yes, sir."

On the rooftop of the very same office sat a young, female NetNavi with long, straight brown hair collected into a high thick ponytail that came out of the top back of her mostly white helmet and all the way down to her waist, kicking her feet back and forth in boredom.

Her eyes were fixed at the virtual sky above her, which matched their color perfectly. Humming a familiar tune to herself, she was lost in thought, as usual.

"Lei! There you are, finally!" A voice suddenly came from behind her, surprising her.

The female Navi turned to its direction.

"Oh, Dean, what's up?" She asked, looking at him with curious eyes.

The male Navi sighed deeply.

"What do you mean 'what's up'?! The boss is looking everywhere for you! We have a meeting, remember?" He said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Eh?"

It took her a few moments to process the information, while both of them just stared at each other with dumb expressions.

"Oh, crap!" The female Navi called, jumped to her feet and began flying back to the building's entrance door, then through the halls of the office as fast as she could with her co-worker right behind her.

"Will you ever stop being such an air-head?" Dean asked, facepalming, "I know you're not doing this on purpose but the boss isn't taking your carefree attitude very well, you know?"

Lei's mouth broke into a troubled smile.

"Ugh, I know, Sorry! I was just thinking about how weird it is for the sky to always be either day or night here, I mean, what if there was a middle? What if the real world has a middle.." She turned around to her co-worker, now flying in reverse.

He only laughed.

"Pfft- Why do you always care about all these trivial things?" He asked, shaking his head at her.

"They may be trivial to you," She explained while poking him in the forehead, "But they're very interesting to me!"

The male Navi sighed with a defeated smile, "You're so weird."

 _'Thank god we are able to fly!'_ She thought to herself as they finally reached the meeting room, and just barely in time, as the meeting seemed to have literally just started.

Both Navis took advantage of all the attention focused on the boss as he spoke, and tiptoed into the room pretending to be invisible.

"Thank you everyone for coming ON TIME." The boss suddenly said, shifting the tone of his sentence while glaring at Lei and Dean. Lei tried not to make eye contact, while Dean could only smile nervously, as he continued; "We have this week's message delivery arrangements, so let's get to business, shall we?"

A few moments later, after everyone had already received their stack of letters to deliver, the meeting was over. But before anyone could go back to their duties, a quick, sudden impatient knock was heard on the glass door. It was one of the receptionists, wearing a very mortified expression on his face.

"Oh thank god I was still in time!" He exhaled with a relief as he let himself into the room, "Boss! We have one more! And it's..

From MegaMan!"

Everyone stood quiet for a few seconds, but all shared the exact same thoughts; _'Megaman? -The- MegaMan that's CyberWorld famous for saving everyone_ _on multiple occasions?'_

The boss was still in shock for a couple more moments, but he quickly regained his cool, "Well! What an honor! We'll be happy to service the hero of the CyberWorld!" He announced proudly.

"B..boss, there's just one issue.. The letter.." The receptionist swallowed hard as the color drained from his face.

"Yes? What about it?" The boss asked, his expression turning confused.

"It is addressed to Bass, sir."

The receptionist's words were left to hover in the air.

For the second time, the entire room went quiet. This time it was for a good solid 5 minutes, in which just like before, everyone shared the exact same thoughts; _'Bass?! As in_ _'Black Shadow' Bass? The vicious NetNavi that kills and absorbs other strong NetNavis solely for power?'_

The first to speak was, of course, the boss. "I.. See. Well.. W-we _are_ professionals, people! So let's get this over with; Who wants to do it?" He said, trying to hide the amount of fear in his voice, but failing hard, "Don't forget it _is_ part of the job to deliver to any recipient, no matter who that might be!"

Dean let out a small, cynical laugh.

"Yeah, easy for him to say, he sure isn't going to be the one to deliver it.." He leaned in and whispered to Lei, who only blinked at what was going on before her.

"Come on! I'll even make a deal with you, whoever takes this upon himself is free from any other delivery for the whole week!" He pressed. But after a long while of literally nobody to volunteer to potentially be killed and absorbed by the horrible Bass over a damn letter, he raised his finger in the air.

"Alright then! if I HAVE to choose, The one to do it shall be..." He said, and pointed to no other than..

Lei.

Her blue eyes widened.

"What!" Dean immediately protested, "Sir! You can't be serious sending Lei to this mission!"

The boss only smirked.

"Why, I think that Lei here is perfect for the job! She most certainly has enough courage in her, especially to make me go around looking for her most of the time!" The boss said, boasting his chest and feeling as if he had just won the world's greatest debate.

As much as he was annoying, he was right. And both Lei and Dean had no retort for his last sentence.

Lei was pretty much doing whatever the hell she wanted most of the time and somehow always got away with it.

Until today, that is.

"Okay, I'll do it." She suddenly said confidently, as the whole room started whispering in disbelief. "A job is a job after all, and a delivery must be completed." She said, smiling honestly at him.

"Lei.." Dean said with a shocked look.

"HA HA! That's my Lei, that's the reason I chose this girl right here!" Suddenly the boss' tone of voice changed completely, "Also, don't worry dear, Bass was the one who helped MegaMan after all! I'm sure he has already abandoned his bad ways! …And even if not.. You can always send a distress single through your communication device and help will be with you in seconds!" He added, still smiling.

Lei didn't actually hear a word of it, as she was lost in thought again.

She was never really scared of anything, and she wasn't scared at that moment either. She was always curious about the world and the creatures living in it. She always wanted to experience more, see more, feel more, she believed everything that happens has a reason behind it, and she felt like maybe there's a reason for her to complete this unusual task.

And most importantly - she just really loved her job.

"Lei... If anything happens, call me immediately." Dean said quietly, his expression worried.

Lei shifted her gaze up to him and stared at him with large blue eyes, "You don't have to be so worried!" She reassured him and smiled widely, "I feel like it's gonna be just fine, trust me on this one."

Then, the meeting was finally over.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's it for chapter 1!**

 **The Boss' name is 'The Boss'. That's what I decided, Hahaha xD I also keep imagining Peter Parker's boss in my head as I write him, though I try to not make him as much of an asshole. (We need pictures of MegaMan, Parker!)  
**

 **I know it isn't properly explained who they are and what they do yet, but trust me, I have most of the technical details of the story all planned out, so be patient ;)**

 **I hope you enjoyed it, Please review!**


	2. Banana?

**~Chapter 2~**

* * *

Like after every other meeting, chaos ensued in the office.

Every NetNavi was getting ready to leave to their delivery duty, and it was noisy, crowded, and had everyone floating all over the place in every direction.

except for two NetNavis who were standing calmly, watching everything from the side.

"Lei, promise me to be careful, okay?" Dean said, his expression still incredibly worried.

The female Navi smiled up at him.

"I already told you, I'm gonna be fine! I'm not worried about this at all, I mean, I finally have an interesting delivery." She answered him.

He sighed deeply.

"I know you're not worried about this, that's why I am." The male Navi explained.

"Worryrat" she said playfully while giving him a big grin.

But he couldn't help but worry.

 _'This_ _girl I swear...'_ Dean thought to himself, ' _Will she really be alright?'_

Dean and Lei have known each other for a few years now, and were good friends. He was mostly the one to snap her back out of her dreamworld whenever she got lost in her thoughts, and she returned the favor by giving him advice on how to deal with problematic customers, because if there's one thing that Lei had, it was a natural gift and patience for dealing with people and NetNavis alike. She was always anxious to complete her duty and deliver her messages, and she was more than happy to make new friends along the way and come back to the office with stories about her day that she told with such excitement, it was hard not to listen.

Her positive attitude was simply infectious.

But was that enough?

* * *

He escorted her to the entrance of the office, where they both grabbed their company's trademark square, orange messenger bags with the metal, enveloped-shaped clasp, and filled them each with their delivery for the week.

In Lei's case however, that included only one letter.

 _'I can't believe I have to drag this whole bag with me for one letter.. Stupid rules'_ She thought to herself, _'Whatever, at least it's fashionable'_

She grabbed the strap and put it over her head and onto her left shoulder, so the bag could safely rest against the right side of her waist, on top of her Navi messenger outfit which consisted of a white mini-dress, a full black tight bodysuit underneath, white thigh-high boots with light blue streaks and white gloves that went all the way up to her upper arms, also with matching light blue streaks. Her helmet was mostly white, and had the same blue streaks in it. Perhaps the most distinctive part of it was the symbol of the Messenger Company – two small white wings that came out of the top two sides of her helmet.

She turned to Dean.

"Well, I'll be off then!" She chirped with excitement.

"Yeah, me too." Dean opened the door out of the building, and they both began floating in different directions.

"Lei!" He suddenly yelled back at her, his voice made her stop and turn around, "I'll check up on you through the Communication Service, so make sure to actually answer!"

She only smiled wide and waved her hand at him, then turned around rapidly, which made her long, thick brown ponytail fly after her.

Dean stayed in his place for a couple more seconds as he watched her figure disappear out of the city, and turned back on his heel to continue with his own delivery. Though he tried not to think about it, he couldn't help but still worry about this task being given to her as a form of punishment.

' _What was the boss thinking sending a Navi like Lei of all people_ _into the UnderNet?_ ' He wondered, ' _She can't even defend herself_.'

Communication Messenger NetNavis were special Navis with no option to engage in a fight, their duty was to simply help deliver messages and e-mails all around the CyberWorld to other Navis out of reach of reception area/Navis not part of the official Communication Network System.

And even if that wasn't enough, Lei was a rather petite NetNavi that didn't even look like a fighter.

"Well, maybe if she's lucky, She'll get to meet.. _him._ " He said to himself, and continued on his way.

* * *

 _'Hmm, so first I need to find the entrance to the UnderNet'_ Lei thought to herself as she opened her GPS system and floated out of the busy city area.

She trailed off for what felt like an hour with no other NetNavis around, until she reached a large, square arch.

"Oh, according to the GPS this is it." She started moving forward, but suddenly stopped.

Lei looked ahead into the UnderNet and stood there for a minute.

She then stretched out her arms, clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Let's deliver!" She called, now filled with determination, and flew inside.

As she went further and further into the UnderNet, Lei noticed her GPS stopped working. This was due to the UnderNet being notorious for messing up navigation systems, and it didn't surprise her.

 _'I guess I'm completely on my own now.'_ She thought to herself as she continued floating down the path. _'I wonder how will I even find him?'_ But she was easily distracted by everything in front of her – she gasped as she suddenly noticed orbs flying all around her, sky so different from NetCity that she couldn't even name its color, and ground that looked like it was freshly destroyed and turned raw from a recent battle.

She thought it was somewhat beautiful.

Lei then turned and floated backwards again, staring at where she came from.

 _'How can two places so close to each other be so different?'_ She pondered, _'NetCity is like an upside down_ _version of this place or something'_ The female Navi giggled, as she turned herself upside down as well, mid-float, feet in the air, while still continuing to move, her long ponytail falling way below her.

It all just seemed like a very odd sight.

"Having fun, aren't we?" Asked a calm and collected voice.

Lei jumped a bit and started turning around, still upside-down, for the source of it, until she finally locked eyes with the person who was speaking to her.

It was a rather slender, but tall Navi, with dark skin and an amused expression on his face. His outfit mostly consisted of black and gold, with big baggy white pants and a black tight bodysuit shirt, gold helmet with two long, yellow, hair looking parts coming out of it, and orange raiments surrounding his body.

She then quickly flipped herself back into a normal position, but didn't say anything, Lei just stared at the Navi in front of her with large blue eyes for a minute, then opened her mouth to say something.

"You..." She started with a big pause.

"Yes?" The male Navi looked at her, anticipating.

"...Look like a banana."

The strange remark caught him off guard as his eyes widened at the odd girl in front of him.

"Well.. It's not like it's a bad thing." She continued.

"Oh?" He asked, still calm.

The female Navi smiled up at him

"Food-based designs are cute." She floated closer to him to catch more of his outfit.

"Who are you, girl?" He suddenly said, making her lift her eyes from his clothes to his face.

"Oh, sorry, I guess that was rude of me, wasn't it? I'm Lei. What's your name?" She asked, her expression interested.

"And what are you doing here, Lei?" He didn't answer her question, which made her more anxious to know the answer. Lei hated when she couldn't get answers.

"You didn't answer my question." She crossed her arms, not breaking his eye contact.

He paused for a moment, then caved.

"Alright, my name is Serenade." He said while putting one hand on his waist.

Lei took a few seconds to stare at the Navi in front of her. She knew she heard that name somewhere before, then she suddenly remembered.

She lifted her hands to her mouth, her blue eyes going wide.

He was the ruler of the UnderNet.

"Oh." she chirped.

"Uh-oh" Serenade said, and had an amused expression on his face, once again.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time and just stared at each other, then Lei opened her mouth;

"How cool!" She suddenly beamed, her blue eyes filled with excitement and her cheek blushed slightly, "I never thought I'd get to meet a ruler of anything, let alone this beautiful place."

Serenade was downright surprised at the girl in front of him, "You think this place is beautiful?" He looked at her with confusion, "Aren't you afraid to go around here all by yourself?" He asked her.

Her expression turned into a calm smile.

"This place is amazingly different, It's so unique, how could I be afraid?" She said while looking all around her, "You're so lucky to be the ruler of such a special place"

Serenade just stared at the girl, he was dumbfounded. This was the first time he has ever heard anyone say that the UnderNet was unique, let alone beautiful. This girl was an odd one.

He cleared his throat.

"..So back to our subject," He said, grabbing her attention, "What _are_ you doing here, Lei?" He pressed.

Lei pointed to the emblem in the middle of her chest. It had the visual of a gold letter in it.

"I'm a delivery Navi from the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service! I was tasked with delivering a message in the form of a letter to someone of this area." She explained.

"I see," He said, "And may I ask to who?"

"Bass." she answered, not sure as to why this information was needed to him.

Serenade was silent for a few moments, then his expression softened.

"If you want, Lei, I can assist you with your task. How about you give me the letter and I deliver it for you?" He lifted his hand and opened his palm at her, waiting to receive the letter.

Lei only stared up at him with confusion.

"You? Why?" She asked.

"I'm afraid Bass is too dangerous. You have probably heard more than enough stories about him by now, I think it's for the best that a girl like you will have nothing to do with him. Don't worry about your supervisors, I'll just sign for him, they won't know anything." He smiled.

Lei looked at his hand and then lifted her gaze back to him. She did hear the stories about Bass and everything that he's done, but she also believed that once you are handed with a task, you must also be the to finish it, no shortcuts, it's just the way it has to be.

"No, thank you." She said with a confident smile.

Her confident look surprised him.

He opened his mouth to further explain why this was a bad idea, but she interrupted him-

"I know it's dangerous, but it's my duty, it's what I was programmed for, so it's something that I have to do. I know there's a reason for everything that happens, and I feel like there was a reason why I was handled this task as well. But I appreciate your concern Serenade, Thank you." She grabbed his empty hand with both of her small ones, "I'll be okay, I'm not worried." Then, she smiled widely.

Serenade was speechless for a few moments. Then, he could only chuckle at this unusual girl in front of him.

"I understand." He said, while gently jerking out of her grip, "Then I wish you good luck, 'Lei the delivery girl.'" He said teasingly and then vanished into a strong light.

Lei covered her eyes from the sudden, strong beam, then opened them right away.

"Wow, he's gone" she said in amazement, then she floated back into the road and continued in her way to find the most vicious Navi of them all.

* * *

 **A/N: I just love Serenade so much, even if he is just basically a strange banana-man, writing him was so much fun, I hope I got his character right.**

 **I also cant believe the anime didn't even bother including him in the story, what the fuck? that's why the manga is superior.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I had writing it,**

 **Please review and have a nice day! :)**


	3. Red Eyes

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews! it makes me so happy knowing that people are actually enjoying this story.**

 **We have finally reached the most anticipated encounter, and writing it was pure hilarity.**

 **So without anymore delays, lets continue!**

 **~Chapter 3~**

* * *

After floating for what already seemed to be an hour, Lei was getting bored.

There were no other NetNavis around to talk to, and she didn't want to disturb Dean or any other friend she had from the office because it was Monday; the busiest day of the week, and everyone were probably buried with work, or simply in the middle of their deliveries.

So she got lost in her thoughts, again.

 _'How did Serenade even find me?'_ She wondered to herself as her eyes shifted up to the strange-colored sky above her, _'Maybe I was just extremely lucky?'_ She then turned her gaze back to the road, _'Or maybe.. he has special servant-minions who patrol the UnderNet for him and had spotted me!'_ She was positive she had just found her answer. "Can't fool me, Mhm!" She said to herself, jokingly.

But jokes aside, she still had work to do.

 _'Well, I guess I better make good use of the time to practice_ _how I should represent myself to Bass.'_ she suddenly remembered her mission.

It was in that moment Lei had realized that she doesn't even know what Bass looks like. She only heard stories about the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet; About him being incredibly scary, dangerous, powerful, yet nobody ever talked about his actual features.

So how was she supposed to even recognize him?

 _'Hmm, I should have thought about this sooner and asked Serenade to describe him for me or somethin_ g.' Her brow furrowed as she realized her missed opportunity to collect some information on her recipient, _'Alright, I'll ask the_ _next Navi I see. They'll be sure to know.'_ She quickly agreed with her solution.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud, sudden scream from somewhere not so far away from where she stood.

Lei's eyes widened as she looked all around her to figure out the direction in which the scream came from.

Another scream, this time followed by a large explosion. Lei quickly noticed the direction of the noise, and began flying in it without a second thought, fast.

"What's happening? Is someone in trouble?" She asked herself, picking up her speed.

As she flew closer she could hear the commotion go gradually louder, until she could figure out an actual conversation coming from behind a large hill of rocks before her.

"How dare you, you smug lil' punk!" One of the voices yelled.

It was followed by no answer, just the same voice screaming, and then something that Lei had never heard before – the sound of a NetNavi being deleted.

She was incredibly curious to know what was going on beyond that hill of rocks, and she decided to take a peek.

As Lei carefully and slowly lifted herself above some of the rocks, she saw multiple NetNavis, all lying on the ground, parts of their arms and legs being dissolved into the air, mumbling something in pain, "What the hell... wasn't... he beaten? How could... he still be so strong..?" She could only figure out this one sentence.

Next to them, stood a rather large Navi, shaking with fear, with his buster aimed at another, shorter Navi in front of him.

Lei turned her eyes to said Navi; He stood completely quiet and still, his body and lower part of his face covered in a strange, tattered-looking light brown cloak, his helmet was gold and dark purple with big fin-like parts coming out of each side of his head, and his red eyes were so focused on his opponent, it was as if he was a predator looking at his prey.

"T-this isn't worth it, Damn it! Just you fucking wait, Bass!" the bigger Navi cried, then plugged out of the place, with his fellow Navis on the ground all doing the same, except for one of them, who was apparently in too much of a bad condition to do anything.

Lei watched the whole thing with wide eyes.

"Well, I guess I found him." She whispered to herself.

"You bastard!" The damaged Navi on the ground shot at the cloaked one, yet he was in no condition to fight.

The latter only stepped closer to him and floated to the air, then raised one of his arms from inside his cloak and aimed it down at his direction.

Lei was shocked that he would still try and harm a Navi not even able to fight anymore. She knew it was absolutely none of her business, but she couldn't just stay there and let it happen right in front of her eyes.

The cloaked Navi gathered purple energy in his hand, and just when it seemed like he was about to release it on his opponent-

"Stop!" He was interrupted by a sudden high voice.

Lei floated out of her hiding place and came into full view. She flew all the way to the side of the Navi lying on the ground, while not breaking eye contact with the cloaked one still in the air, his hand still held at their direction loaded with purple energy.

His expression didn't waver at the sight of her, but he waited.

"Why aren't you running away? Plug out already!" She shot at the damaged Navi laying next to her while still holding the cloaked Navi's menacing gaze.

The Navi on the floor was badly hurt, but thanks to Lei's distraction, he was able to regenerate enough to plug out, "You should run away, girl! This isn't a place for a messenger Navi!" He said, then vanished into a blue beam of light, not even thanking her.

Lei couldn't care less, though, she was just happy to be able to prevent what could have been an experience she didn't ever want to witness, and she let out a loud sigh.

Though, her relief was quickly changed to surprise as the cloaked Navi released his attack at her direction, yet it flew right past her left side and blew up behind her, causing her full attention to once again shift to him.

"Who are you, and why did you interfere?" He demanded, his voice was firm and powerful, yet also very clear sounding.

Lei didn't answer him. She just stared up at him with large blue eyes.

"You better give me a good reason to why not just kill you right here, girl!" He suddenly yelled.

"Well," she started, "Because if you kill me, you will never receive what I'm here to give you." Her voice was calm and her expression serious.

Bass said nothing, just stared down at the girl in below him, as she stared right back up at him, still not breaking his eye contact.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

Suddenly, Lei's serious expression softened as her blue eyes began to wander all over the cloaked Navi's figure; from the fins on his helmet to the blue, cross-shaped jewel in the middle of it, to the purple streaks on each side of his face, to his now a bit more open cloak, which revealed a small part of his Navi symbol and his outfit underneath it, to his large, heavy-looking golden boots.

"What are you staring at?" He suddenly asked her, noticing she had been observing almost every part of him, and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

She then opened her mouth to respond;

"Why do they call you the 'Black Shadow' if your main colors are more of a dark purple and light brown than anything?" She asked with a confused expression, shifting her gaze back up to meet his.

Bass stayed silent for a few moments to that bizarre question. He was never asked anything like that before, he was rarely even asked anything to begin with. The various NetNavis who sought him all had the intention of defeating or killing him and they most certainly did not care about the source of his name among the UnderNet.

"I wasn't the one who made that stupid name up." He could only respond with that much, he was confused, but he tried not to show it.

Lei continued to stare up at him for a few more moments in silence as he continued;

"You said you had something for me, what is it?" He demanded.

Lei's blue eyes suddenly widened as she remembered the reason she was there in the first place.

"Oh! Right," she perked up, opened her bag, and quickly pulled the letter out of it, then floated up to the cloaked Navi's eye-level, which caused him to slightly move back instinctively, as she extended her hands forward, holding the letter to him, "I need to deliver this letter to you, it's from MegaMan!"

Bass didn't say a word for a solid minute, and he didn't take the letter out of her hands either. Instead, he simply floated back down until his feet came in contact with some of the messed up ground below him. He literally left Lei hanging in the air.

"Like I'd fall for an easy fucking trap like that." He laughed, "A girl like you, hanging around this place? Delivering letters? I'm not an idiot." His expression turned annoyed, "Who sent you? I won't be surprised if that envelope contains a damn virus or something."

Lei couldn't believe he would think she was lying to him.

Her brow furrowed.

"I'm not working for anyone other than the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service!" She said proudly, "Why would I lie to you? And what do you mean 'A girl like me'?" She was slightly hurt at him doubting her like that.

The cloaked Navi didn't answer her for a few more moments.

"Hmph." His expression suddenly turning dark, "I'm not repeating myself, or giving you any other explanations, girl, so you better get the hell out of my sight before I add you to the number of Navis I killed today." He said with a low voice, raising one hand out of his cloak and clenching it into a fist.

Bass was sure that was enough to scare her away.

He was wrong, and she snapped.

"I'm not leaving here until I give you your letter and you sign the form for receiving it as proof!" She said, raising her voice. She then started floating down to him until she was right in front of, yet slightly above him, "I came all this way from NetCity just to find you, Bass, so you could at least appreciate the effort!" She stared down at him with large blue eyes, filled with determination.

The cloaked Navi was surprised his threats backfired and instead of scaring her away, they only further fueled her determination to give him the stupid letter. _'What_ _is up_ _with this girl?'_ He thought to himself staring up at her as she continued;

"You're probably not used to receiving letters because nobody actually sends you anything, but this is a very normal procedure, you know?" She explained, lifting her index finger at his face, "Besides, we wouldn't even be in this situation if you had just listed your name in the Communication System so that any Navi who wants to speak to you could just send you the message straight into your own folder. Now take this letter and sign my form already!" With that she was done with her rant.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time, once again. They just stared at each other for a good minute; Lei with a pouting expression, Bass with a slightly annoyed, serious one.

He was the first to talk.

"You open it, I'll be right here." He said.

Lei could see his sly smile beyond his cloak.

She sighed. "Fine, I will!" She said, narrowing her eyes at him, then flipped the letter in her small hands, and pressed the button to open it. The paper dissolved into air, and all that was left out of it was a little blue chip. Bass watched her actions closely as she flipped a little switch to activate it, causing a hologram of MegaMan's face to suddenly appear in front of them-

"Bass, how are you? I realize this is probably a very strange thing for me to do, but I guess I wanted to check up on you to see if everything's alright.. We haven't seen you since you helped us against the Cyber Beasts a few months ago, and I didn't even get the chance to thank you.. I wasn't even sure how to reach you, so ProtoMan suggested a Communication Service. Anyway, I hope you're doing okay out there in the UnderNet, and that we could settle our score soon, I'll be waiting for your response!"

With that, the message ended, and MegaMan's face dissolved back into the chip.

Lei watched Bass carefully. His expression was a completely new one that she had never seen before; he almost looked.. Happy.

She was incredibly surprised with what she was witnessing; to think that a short message like that, simply asking him if he's okay, will affect him in such a way and cause him to have such an honest reaction.. Wasn't he supposed to be the most vicious NetNavi of them all?

"Cute." She didn't even think before the word escaped her mouth, and Bass' expression went back to hostile and irritated as soon as he heard her.

"What did you say?" He asked with malice in his voice, his red eyes glaring at her.

Lei just smiled at him, amused.

"Your expression just now was cute, you shouldn't be so grumpy all the time"

Before he could process what the female Navi had just told him, she continued;

"It looks like you and MegaMan are good friends, that's so surprising." She said, her blue eyes filled with interest.

Bass was still so shocked at her previous remark that he just stared at her, this time his eyes wide and his expression unreadable. He then lowered his face until it was almost completely hidden behind his cloak.

Lei noticed he was literally frozen, which confused her greatly. Only a minute ago he was just fine and full of hate.

"Hey... are you okay?" She lifted her hand to him, causing him to suddenly grab her wrist, surprising her so much that she let out a tiny yelp. Lei desperately tried to find answers from his expression, but unfortunately for her, the cloak covered most of it. Even his eyes were hidden well below his helmet so she couldn't see them either.

He suddenly opened his mouth;

"You... don't you _ever_ call me 'cute' again, you understand me?" His voice was somehow quiet yet extremely serious.

Lei's eyes widened at his sudden words, as she simply stared at him, surprised.

Her eyes then trailed off to his hand on her wrist, he held her firmly, but he didn't hurt her. She was suddenly fascinated by how big his hand was next to hers, and how rough it felt.

"Um.. Okay, I'm sorry?" She almost whispered, and as soon as she finished apologizing, Bass let go of her.

He then lifted his face a bit, and she could finally see it.

It was back to its normal, annoyed state.

They were silent for a few moments, again, just staring at each other.

Eventually, Lei was the one to break the silence this time.

"So, do you finally believe me now?" She asked him, her smile confident.

Bass quickly narrowed his eyes at her.

"Whatever." He spat, "Tell me, how do I reply to the message?" His voice was demanding.

Lei giggled at him, which only annoyed him further.

"First, please sign here that you have actually received the letter." She said, handing him a virtual form which he needed to tap his hand on.

Bass complied and did as asked, which surprised her.

"Now, how do I reply, girl?" He lifted his gaze back to her, waiting for her instructions.

After a good five minutes in which Lei had explained the cloaked Navi how to respond to a message, he quickly recorded a response of his own.

It was a short 'I trust you realize that I'm always fine, MegaMan, so how about you come here so we can decide on our score once and for all?' which she pretty much expected.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"How will he get my response?" He suddenly asked. For a moment, his voice was simply curious and not so demanding and rude.

"Oh, well-" Lei began explaining with excitement, "You can choose to fill your details in the Communication System like I have mentioned earlier - that way all you have to do is to reach your nearest port machine, list it to his PET address, and he will receive it straight away, or, you can choose to continue with our service." She smiled proudly as she held two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him.

Bass stopped to consider his options for a minute.

"This Communication System, if I list my details in it, then any Navi could easily access them, am I right?" He asked.

"Yes, it is like that to improve communication all over the CyberWorld." She answered.

Bass took a few moments to form his decision, as Lei watched him closely.

"Hmph." He suddenly said,"like I'd give anyone the benefit of any information on me-" He smiled viciously, "They'll have to work harder than that to find me!"

Lei couldn't help herself, she just started to laugh, hard.

"What the fuck are you laughing at, you annoying girl?!" He was downright mad at her sudden amusement.

"You.." She said as she wiped away her tears,"You're so funny, I can't believe how wrong the stories about you are." She smiled at him, still wiping away her tears from laughing too much, as her cheeks slightly blushed with a tint of red.

Bass didn't say anything, he just stared at her. She was most definitely, the strangest Navi he had ever encountered, even more than that MegaMan fool.

"So I guess that means you will be staying with our service, then?" she confirmed.

"Unfortunately." he said, giving her an incredibly displeased look.

Lei only smiled at him again, which never failed to annoy him.

"Then, I'll be needing your response to that message." She said as she held out her palm to him, waiting for him to give her the chip he had just recorded his response on.

Bass looked at her reached-out hand. _'To think that I'm trusting my message in those_ _small and useless_ _hands..'_ He thought to himself as he handed her his chip, and Lei quickly put it in a special part of her bag.

"If you lose my message to that fool, I will come find you, and kill you." He hissed at her.

Lei crossed her arms at him.

"Just so you know, I have never once lost a message in all my time working as a messenger Navi!" She said proudly.

"Hmph." He narrowed his eyes at her, "And will you again be the one to deliver me the answer?" He asked.

Lei's eyes widened at him.

"Why, do you want me to?" She asked, giving him a smug look.

"Stupid girl!" He scoffed, "You're enough, I don't want to run into any more of your kind." He dismissed her theory completely.

"There are no other Navis like me, except me!" She declared and smiled her widest at him.

She then turned away from the cloaked Navi and began her journey back to the city as he simply watched her.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned back around as if she forgot something, her long, brown ponytail trying to catch up with her sudden movement.

Meeting Bass' gaze once again, the female Navi smiled wide and lifted her arm in the air.

"I'm Lei, by the way!" She yelled to him from afar, smiling and waving goodbye, then she turned back on her way.

He said nothing as he watched her fly until she disappeared in the direction that would lead her out of the UnderNet.

 _'What a waste of time this was.'_ He thought to himself, annoyed, as he realized they both had been talking for over three hours.

* * *

 **A/N: That was the longest chapter yet.**

 **So Lei and Bass finally meet! That was so much fun to write. Bass is a rude motherfucker, but he's a cute rude motherfucker ^^**

 **MegaMan was not in my initial plan for this fic, but I guess I need to add him now as well.**

 **Please keep the reviews coming, and again, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!~**


	4. Worries

**A/N: Thank you once again for the reviews, they make writing this so much more fun ^^**

 **~Chapter 4~**

* * *

 _'Well, that wasn't so bad.'_ Lei thought to herself as she was making her way back to NetCity.

As she expected, the rumors were highly exaggerating about Bass; Yes, he was extremely rude and hard to talk to, but not impossible, really, all it took is communication.

Suddenly, his expression after MegaMan's message popped in her mind, causing her expression to turn somewhat sad.

 _'I guess people are just too scared to actually try.. Such a shame.'_ She concluded to herself.

Lei then realized that she had actually completed her mission, and that she was basically free from any other jobs for the whole week.

She stopped right in her place, threw her arms in the air and spun a few times while floating up. "YAAYY!" She called to the strange-colored sky above her, and proceeded to dance to an imaginary beat.

She was so busy celebrating, that she didn't notice she was being watched.

"I take it your trip was a success, Lei the delivery girl?" A familiar calm voice asked.

The female Navi stopped goofing around all at once, and turned around to the source of it, until she met with the dark-skinned Navi's brown eyes.

"Serenade!" She called to him, surprised.

He had his usual amused expression.

Lei floated closer to him, "Yeah, no problems at all!" She said proudly, while smiling.

"I see, that's good." He said.

Her expression suddenly turned confused.

"But what are you doing here, Serenade?" She asked, her blue eyes filled with interest.

This was already the second time that Lei got to meet the ruler of the UnderNet in just one day. Was her luck simply incredible? Or was there a special reason for him to come find her twice in a row? She couldn't be more anxious to know his reason.

"Well," He began saying, "I wanted to check up on you; see if everything's alright." He smiled.

Lei's eyes widened at his words. She then put her hands on her waist and grinned, as her expression turned confident.

"I'm always alright." She declared and winked up at the tall Navi floating in front of her.

Serenade chuckled.

"Yes, I can already tell the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet will have to put much more effort in order for you to be scared of him." He said, smiling kindly.

Even though Serenade had meant that as a complement, Lei couldn't help but feel guilty for some reason. She put her hands back down at each side of her body, as she kept quiet for a few moments.

Then, her expression turned sad.

"I don't think people should be afraid at all," She said, lowering her gaze to her feet, "I mean, all it took for him to cooperate was to understand what he needed to do," Bass' expression shot through her mind once again, causing her to bite her lower lip.

She raised her gaze back to the tall Navi, "I'm sure that if people were more open minded and just gave him a chance instead of relying on those silly rumors.. Really, all it takes is communication. Maybe the next time we meet will go even more smoothly."

Serenade kept silent as he simply looked at her with an unreadable expression. Lei could only feel impatient about his long silence, but she also realized that the ruler of the UnderNet was probably the wrong person to dump her worries and opinions on.

To her relief, he opened his mouth.

"I feel like you have good will," He started, "But there are things which you don't know, and are better not getting into, Lei." His expression was serious and a bit sad. "Bass' behavior to you was abnormal, that does not mean that other Navis would receive the same treatment, and that does not mean that even _you_ will receive the same treatment in the future" He explained as he noticed Lei was listening to him with her full attention, "Also, I'm afraid you are forgetting the most important part – Bass is most certainly content with being alone." With that, Serenade was finished, and he watched her closely.

Lei knew she didn't know anything, but that was what also made her even more curious to find out. She could also never agree with Serenade's last statement;

She couldn't in a million years, believe anybody could ever be content with loneliness.

Bass' expression popped, once again.

Her brow furrowed.

 _'Nobody who could make that expression over someone else asking for their well being, could be happy alone.'_ She thought to herself, as she opened her mouth-

"I'm sorry Serenade, but I can't agree to that." She said, her eyes serious, "I want to know. I'm not afraid of the things that I lack in knowledge, I'm curious about them." Her expression turned determined as she continued, "And I also can't agree with you about him preferring solitude, nobody is better alone, that's just sad."

Serenade's dark eyes widened at her words, and her simply looked at her with a stunned expression.

Lei held his gaze for the longest time.

Neither of them spoke.

Then, the ruler of the UnderNet suddenly closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

"I see that no matter what I say, I simply cannot persuade you to back down from this, can I?" He asked, opening his eyes at her and smiling softly with a defeated look, "Maybe you're the one." His expression suddenly turned interested as he raised his hand to grab his own chin.

Lei only stared at him with a puzzled expression, confused at his last words.

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to find answers from his expression, but with no luck.

Serenade chuckled, "We shall see." He said, amused.

 _'This_ _girl...'_ He thought to himself, as he reached his hand out to her and patted the top of her helmet, only confusing the female Navi further.

"I have to leave now, Lei, I trust we'll meet again soon." And with that, he vanished into a strong light.

"Ah! Wait!" Lei cried, but it was all too fast, and he was already gone.

She didn't even manage to get an answer out of him.

 _'Man! I_ _wish he'd stop randomly disappearing like that.'_ she thought to herself, letting out a small sigh and still staring at where he was just floating.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a beeping coming out from a pocket on the strap of her bag.

Lei quickly raised her hand to it and pulled out a little black device, then used her finger to flip a tiny switch.

The beeping stopped, and Dean's face suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Lei, what's up?" He asked. His voice was a bit cut, probably due to the bad reception.

The female Navi smiled.

"Hi Dean! I'm good, just finished my delivery and on my way back, how about you?" She said and smiled widely.

Dean took a moment to process what she had just said.

"What? Finished? You mean you already met Bass and gave him the letter?" He asked, his expression stunned.

"Yup!" Lei confirmed, holding two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him, "And I even have his response with me!"

The male Navi was absolutely shocked at what he was hearing; while everyone thought she would get hurt or worse, Lei actually completed her mission without a scratch _and_ got a response from the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet on her first try?

"Wow, that's incredible, I'm so glad you didn't get hurt!" He said, still surprised.

But Lei really didn't get what the big deal was all about and why everyone were so scared for her.

She was simply a messenger - She found Bass, delivered him his message, got his signature for the company's confirmation, and now she was on her way back, safe and sound.

It wasn't at all like what everyone made it sound like it would be.

"I simply did my job and delivered him his message, why would he hurt me?" She asked, honestly trying to understand the fuss.

Dean blinked at her question.

"I've heard he _killed_ other Navis for much less! You got lucky." He said, his brown eyes wide.

"Well, I guess rumors can be wrong, then." She smiled and winked at him.

"Pfft, right.. " The male Navi chuckled at her words, "Anyway, so what are you planning to do now? You've got the whole week to yourself, next delivery arrangement meeting is not until next Monday, and since you've already completed your punishment, I'm sure the boss wouldn't drop the rest of this delivery on you again." He said.

Lei had forgotten all about the fact that this delivery was given to her as a form of punishment, and was a one-time thing to teach her to stop spacing out while at work, which means that a _different_ messenger Navi was most likely to receive the duty of delivering Bass' response to MegaMan in next week's arrangement.

She swallowed hard.

 _'I guess that's only logical..'_ She thought to herself, _'I mean, my job here is done, there's no reason for me to continue this..'_ But she couldn't help but feel somewhat.. sad.

She remembered Bass asking her if she'll again be the one to deliver him MegaMan's response.

Her expression turned determined as she was suddenly filled with new motivation-

Lei decided she was going to ask the boss to continue with this delivery.

' _After all, I_ _started it – whatever you start you must finish!_ ' She agreed with her own reasoning.

She blinked.

How on earth was she going to tell Dean about her new decision? He was so worried for her doing this one delivery, could she really make him worry for her like that again if MegaMan would choose to respond for the second time?

"Lei?" Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his voice, "What's the matter? Got Lost in thought again?" He smiled his honest smile at her, which only made her feel slightly more guilty.

"Oh, sorry," She laughed nervously, "Haven't really thought about it yet." She lied.

Lei felt bad about it, but she figured it was for the best – for the time being, she will keep this as a secret from Dean.

"Alright well, I'm almost at NetCity now so I'll call you when I get there! I got so much to tell you, you wouldn't believe!" She said with excitement.

"Oh? I hope it's about you fighting Bass and kicking his ass, only that would explain how you survived!" He joked.

Lei laughed, "Not quite." She quickly dismissed and stuck her tongue out at him, "Well, bye for now!" She waved him goodbye as she closed the conversation, returned the small device into its pocket and continued moving.

She picked up the pace and began flying faster, not having any idea about another party that had been watching her this whole time.

* * *

 **A/N: Kind of a short chapter, next one will be longer ;)**

 **Serenade returns to try and be the responsible adult, but unfortunately for him, Lei is bad with listening to people.**

 **Also, who was that mysterious stalker? We shall wait and see.**

 **Please keep the reviews coming, tell me what you like/dislike about my story/characters and I'll be more than happy to take it into consideration.  
**

 ***Ghost501 - Thanks! That's interesting that Lei reminds you of Mako, I guess they both got the cheerful happy-go-lucky attitude gong on, yet in my mind Lei is less spazzy than her. she's on duty after all! ;)**


	5. Expression

**~Chapter 5~  
**

* * *

After floating for about half an hour, Lei finally reached a big hill which ended in a bright hole in the oddly-colored sky, above her.

The light was so strong and so different from what she had been seeing for the past few hours, that she had to narrow her eyes to figure out the familiar square arch through it.

Happy that she was finally recognizing where she was, Lei flew up the rest of the hill with high speed, until she was out of the UnderNet completely, reunited again with the familiar colors she had nearly forgotten existed.

She stopped where she was for a second and looked back at where she came from.

Even though she was literally just there a second ago, and all she had to do in order to return was to fly a few feet back and enter the portal, somehow, the strong contrast made it seem like It was incredibly far. Like a different dimension even.

She brushed the odd feeling off and turned her head back in the direction of the big city in the distance.

"Home, sweet home." she said to herself as she smiled and started flying towards it, while picking the same, small device from earlier out of its pocket, calling Dean.

"Hi!" She smiled as he picked up her call, "I'm just outside the city, where are you right now?" She asked.

"I'm at our usual place outside the office, just finished my delivery for today." He answered her, looking pleased with himself.

"Got it, I'll be there in probably 10 minutes." She confirmed.

"Uh Lei, By the way, just an advice.." His voice suddenly hesitated, "You might wanna avoid the main streets for a while.." He said and chuckled nervously.

Her expression turned confused at his words.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked.

Dean sighed.

"Nothing serious, it's just that- HEY! ARE YOU TALKING TO LEI?" He was suddenly violently interrupted by a loud, familiar female voice, as his face was quickly shoved aside by the one which followed it.

Lei was amused at what was happening before her.

"Hi Mea." She smiled at her female co-worker.

The loud Navi's mouth broke into a huge grin.

"Lei! That's my girl! I knew you could do it." She said proudly and loudly.

"Do what?" Lei looked at her with large, confused eyes.

The loud Navi's eyes widened.

"Are you kidding? Only what nearly everyone's talking about!" Her voice reached new heights as she started laughing hysterically. "-Alright that's enough, Mea.." Dean's voice was suddenly heard from somewhere behind her, he then took the device out of the loud Navi's hands and his face re-appeared on the screen again.

Lei only giggled, but she was still a bit confused at what was going on.

"So, what's the big deal?" She asked him.

But before he could answer her, her attention shifted to someone calling out her name from below her.

It was an old customer of the company who she knew for a long time, waving to her from the ground.

She lowered herself down to his level, while turning her gaze back to the screen.

"Dean, I'll be there as soon as I can, alright? Gotta go for now." And she closed the conversation before he managed to say anything.

"Oh Lei! Thank god you're safe, dear!" The old Navi said, sounding incredibly relieved by her sight.

Lei only smiled at him.

"Of course I am, sir, why wouldn't I be?" She asked him, her voice calm.

"Because, dear! I heard you've completed a very dangerous delivery! And to the 'Black Shadow', No less!" He explained with even more worry in his eyes.

Lei didn't need any more clues to understand that somehow, the rumor of her successful delivery was spread.

"Oh, really, that was nothing at all!" Lei tried her best to sound reassuring, and smiled.

But her smile quickly faded as she suddenly noticed a large crowd of people coming down her way.

"It's Lei!", "LEI!", "She's alive?!", "I heard she fought against Bass and killed him!"

"Uh-oh." Lei said as her eyes widened with shock.

"You better run, dear, unless you want to start giving autographs until your hand dissolves!" The old man suggested, winking at her.

Lei didn't need him to tell her that twice.

She thanked him, floated up into the air and passed the crowd from above.

"Thank you everyone for worrying about me, but I really _am_ fine! See you guys later!" She yelled at them from afar as she continued flying, the crowd could only watch her quickly disappear into the distance.

 _'Thank god we're able to fly!'_ She thought to herself, letting out a relieved sigh.

Luckily for her, the ability to float/fly was extremely rare among NetNavis, mostly due to its huge advantage.

The only ones who were lucky enough to enjoy it were messenger Navis (for the purpose of easier and quicker deliveries) and Navis who were especially programmed with that rare ability.

"How on earth did things end up this way?" She asked herself as she floated far above the city, her brow furrowing, "It was just a delivery! Why am I being idolized for simply doing my job?" She held her palm to her forehead as she let out another sigh.

She was so confused.

* * *

"She's late." A nervous voice said, and then sighed.

"Wow Dean, when it comes to her you really _are_ a worryrat." another voice said, then started to laugh hysterically.

"Oh shut up, Mea." he scoffed, "I'm just worried she'll get run over by the crazy fans or something, she's a pretty small Navi after all." His brown eyes were fixed on the road which leads to the park next to the messenger service office, where both Navis sat, waiting.

"Yeah, and she's pretty cute, too – you might have some serious competition now that she's famous and all that." The female Navi said teasingly, then quickly broke into a mad giggle.

Dean didn't answer for a few moments, he just let out another loud sigh and tapped his finger nervously on the table.

"I know." he finally said.

* * *

Lei was flying for a good while until she could finally recognize the company's building.

She lowered herself down to the ground, carefully watching every direction as if her life were in danger, but luckily for her, no NetNavi was in sight.

 _'This is kinda exciting.'_ she thought as she giggled to herself, _'I'm like a criminal on a run!'_ She then found the road that would lead her to the park, and followed it.

The petite Navi floated down until she saw both Navis, sitting on a bench.

"Hey guys!" She called out, surprising them.

"Lei!" They both flew to her.

"I hope you were safe from all the vicious fans." Mea asked her, while peeking to Dean from the corner of her eye, who only narrowed his eyes back at her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it wasn't this serious when I called you.. I guess someone heard our conversation you and the rumor just traveled fast from there." Dean apologized while rubbing the back of his neck.

Lei smiled.

"It's fine!, we can fly after all, so I was totally safe" She said, reassuring him, "Lets sit! I have so much to tell you guys!" Her blue eyes were filled with excitement.

Lei started telling them all about her delivery experience - the odd looking sky, beautiful scenery, and meeting the graceful, banana-looking Serenade; the ruler of the UnderNet, yet as soon as she got to the part about her helping a Navi in danger, she was immediately interrupted;

"Hold on, You jumped to defend a Navi you don't even know from being attacked by Bass?!" Both Dean and Mea asked her all at once with stunned expressions.

Lei was startled by their sudden outburst, surprised that they found that more worth talking about than her meeting with Serenade.

"He was in no shape to fight, I couldn't just let him get hit." she tried explaining her motive.

They both just stared at her speechless for a few moments.

Then Mea started laughing.

"Damn, Bass was probably so surprised, he had no idea what to do!" She barely managed to speak through her laughter.

Dean just shook his head in disbelief.

"Holy crap, It's a miracle he didn't just blast his attack at you." He said, "Not to mention, that Navi who you saved was probably a member of one of the many criminal organizations that try to take Bass down on like a daily basis over there, you shouldn't have bothered." He explained.

Lei decided it was probably for the best to also leave out the fact that Bass' attack actually did nearly hit her.

"I know it wasn't my business." she muttered, "But all of that didn't even cross my mind at that moment, I just wanted to help." She crossed her arms at him.

Dean sighed for the millionth time.

He knew how reckless Lei could be sometimes, but he most certainly didn't expect something like this.

"Soo.. what was it like meeting with UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi?" Mea asked her, her green eyes filled with interest.

"Oh," The petite Navi perked up, "Well, people were right about him being really strong, but he wasn't at all scary like what they also made him out to be, and he's not nearly as big as the some of the stories say – they depict him as some giant but he's like maybe half-a-head taller than me? A little shorter than Dean, I suppose, and Dean is like average-tall." She lifted her hand to hold her chin as she stared at her male co-worker, which made him blush slightly.

"Hey, I'm considered tall!" Dean said and crossed his arms at her.

"Shh, she's right, average-tall is pretty much accurate in your case, if anyone's considered an actual giant here, it's me." Mea said as she laughed and smacked him on the shoulder. "And? did he give you a hard time?" She asked as she shifted her gaze back to Lei.

Lei blinked as she recalled their encounter.

"At the beginning, He actually thought that I was sent as some kind of a trap and that the letter contained a virus, could you believe it?" She said, crossing her arms.

Mea just started laughing hysterically while Dean had a sheer look of disgust on his face.

"Lei working as a distraction while giving away deadly letters to her enemies-" Mea said while laughing, "Too much, too much." and her laugh got even louder.

Dean sighed for the xx time.

"What an idiot, is he for real? Does he not know what the messenger uniform looks like?" He said, facepalming.

"Well, actually, he didn't know anything about our company." Lei explained, "I think this was the first message he had ever received in his whole life, he literally didn't even know how to respond to it - I had to teach him." she said as she giggled at the memory of a clueless Bass trying to figure out what button to press in order to start recording.

Mea suddenly recovered from her laughing fit, startling Dean a bit by her sharp movement.

"You taught Bass, the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet, how to respond to a message? Oh my god, call for help, I don't think I'm going to survive-" And with that she was gone into a hysterical laughter fit, once again.

"How lame." Dean just rolled his eyes.

"That _was_ pretty amusing," Lei smiled, "But he actually learned way faster than most Navis I had to teach, which kinda surprised me." She admitted.

Dean's eyes suddenly filled with interest.

"Wait, so did you manage to hear MegaMan's message to him?" He asked.

Lei thought for a few moments before she answered.

"Yeah, But it was nothing special, just an invitation to a rematch between them or something." She felt like it was wrong of her to share the fact that MegaMan and Bass seem to be somewhat of friends.

Bass' expression suddenly shot through her mind, once again.

Lei's brow furrowed.

She was confused as to why that expression of his keeps popping up in her mind.

"Well, good thing it's all over now," Dean suddenly said, grabbing her attention, "I'm guessing the fuss will die down eventually, but until then, you'll probably have to lay low." He looked at her and smiled honestly.

Lei remembered this was far from being over, due to the fact that she had decided she was going to ask her boss to continue with the delivery while keeping it a secret from Dean.

She felt the prick of guilt again for a second, but she decided to ignore it.

And she said nothing.

It was then when the three of them noticed it was already dark, and that they had been talking for about two and a half hours.

They decided to call it a day, and each of them flew their separate ways to their homes.

As Lei floated above the city, her eyes shot up to the same familiar dark-blue night sky she had always knew.

"I guess tomorrow I'll go talk to the boss." She said to herself.

For some reason, it suddenly made her feel strangely excited, and she picked up her pace and started flying faster towards the direction of her house, smiling.

* * *

 **A/N: Gossip, gossip.**

 **I like adding my personal headcanons into this, like why is it that only some specific Navis can fly while most others cant.**

 **Makes you wonder if Bass was programmed with his ability to float or did he have to steal that too along the way, since he was shown to walk like everybody else at the part about his past in the manga.**

 **Next chapter we meet the hero!**


	6. Past

**~Chapter 6~**

* * *

It was Wednesday morning at the office, third day of the delivery week, and the whole floor was completely empty.

Except for Lei, who sat on a chair, spinning herself around with her legs in the air.

"I can't believe the Boss took a day off yesterday." She muttered to herself as she stopped for a moment.

This was already the second time Lei had come to the office in order to talk with her boss after he chose to be absent on the first day of her original plan, and even now – he was held up in a meeting since before she even came.

Lei simply hated to wait, and each minute that passed made her feel more and more anxious.

"What's taking him so loooooooooong..." She exhaled, but as soon as she finished her sentence, she heard the large glass doors of his office down the hall open up, followed by various voices.

Lei peeked, and saw all the guests finally leaving.

"Yes!" She whispered to herself, as she stood up, took whatever she needed with her, and started floating down the hall to his office.

She stopped right at his door and waited for a bit, then stretched out her arms and clapped her hands together.

"Sir?" She knocked three quiet knocks, and opened the big glass door a bit.

She looked around the large room, until she met his gaze.

"Lei!" He said with surprise, his eyes wide. "What are you doing here? You got the whole week off after successfully delivering MegaMan's message, And you did a great job as well! Can't believe you got Bass to give a reply." He chuckled.

"Actually, Sir, I especially came here today to talk to you" She said with a serious look.

"Is that so? What about?" He asked with an interested expression.

"I came to ask for a permission to continue with this delivery myself, Sir." Lei answered with a confident voice.

The boss was silent for a few moments.

"Continue? That's unusual," He said as he scratched the side of his face, "If this is about your punishment, you have already completed the mission and did well, there is no need for you to take anymore part of this."

"That's not it, Sir" She said, "I just want to continue this specific delivery, if I may."

He was silent, once again.

"Oh? And why is that?" He asked, and seemed determined to know her motives.

Lei stopped to think for a bit.

"Well, I thought about it, Sir, and I'd just rather complete it all the way from start to finish, to all its recipients." She explained, her expression filled with determination.

The boss stared at her for a few moments.

Lei was getting anxious, and she hated that feeling, but she didn't break eye contact.

Suddenly, he opened his mouth-

"Very well." He said, Lei almost missed his answer.

Her eyes widened.

"I can see this is important to you for some reason, and I'm not so sure any other messenger would even want to do it anyway, so why not." He said as he smiled at her.

Lei was so happy she could just hug him, but even _she_ knew that would probably be too much.

"Thank you, Sir!" She said, as she tried her best to stay formal.

Her boss nodded.

"Just make sure to deliver MegaMan's message first thing next week! Don't you dare forget!" He commanded, as he pointed at her with his index finger.

Lei decided to surprise him, as she put one hand on her waist.

"How about I start his delivery today?" She asked as she smiled and watched his reaction carefully.

He was shocked.

"You want to do this on your week off, Lei? He asked with a confused expression.

"Yeah, why not. Next week will be a whole bunch of new deliveries anyway, I don't want them piled up." She admitted.

The boss' eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

"HA HA! That's a true messenger Navi's thinking right there, Lei!" He said as he clapped his hands twice, "Then, off you go! Don't waste any time!"

Lei smiled wide.

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

"Hey! Will you be careful with that!" A small, blue Navi yelled.

"How about you quit moving then?! Its hard enough as it is, you know!" Said another, much older looking, irritated.

"What are you guys doing, _Guts_?" A third, large, metal Navi suddenly appeared with a confused expression on his face, looking at the two Navis in front of him - one sitting without his helmet, and the other one behind him, standing with his sword pulled out and held right next to said Navi's head.

"Oh, hey there GutsMan! ProtoMan here is supposed to be giving me a haircut but he's too busy sucking at it" The small Navi said, annoyed.

"What did you say? Then how about you do it alone then!" The standing Navi raised his voice, as his hand transformed back, and started walking away, while both Navis watched him.

"Wow, talk about a drama queen, you crybaby!" The sitting Navi stuck his tongue at him.

The older Navi stopped right at his heels, then suddenly turned back around so quickly, he startled both of them, his fists clenched, "That's it!" He snapped, "You wanna go?! Let's go right now you little punk!" He yelled, as his hand shifted into a sword, once again.

"Damn it, I need you to cut my hair first!" The smaller Navi yelled back, as his hand changed into a buster.

They both started running to each other, yelling, when suddenly-

"What the hell is up with you guys today?! _Guts_!" The large Navi jumped right in between them, his expression was pure confusion.

Both of them stopped what they were doing, and just stared at the metal Navi in front of them, then begun laughing.

"Well, Roll said my hair is too long, so I asked ProtoMan to cut it for me, since he looks like he'd be good at everything, but apparently he's not up to be a hairdresser" The blue Navi explained and sighed.

"Well!" the taller Navi crossed his arms, "Why don't YOU try cutting hair with a sword! I was trying not to slice your head off, and you know what? Maybe I should have." He shot back at him, and smiled viciously.

Both of them were too busy fighting to notice something approaching closer and closer to them in the distance. "Hey.. Who's that? _Guts._ " The metal Navi suddenly said and pointed to the direction of the Navi in the air.

The two turned their full attention to the source of interest.

It was a female NetNavi wearing a mostly white and black outfit with a few light blue streaks, an orange messenger bag, and a long, brown, high ponytail coming out of her winged helmet.

She quickly reached where they were and landed a few feet from the bunch.

"Good morning! I have a delivery for MegaMan!" She happily said with a smile.

Neither of them spoke a word, and just stared at the girl in front of them.

"H-hey Mega.. You didn't tell us you had such a cute personal delivery girl! Does Roll know? _Guts._ " GutsMan whispered to him.

His eyes widened at his friend.

"What?! I don't even know her, this is the first time I've seen this girl!" The short Navi panicked.

"Don't be stupid," the older Navi finally spoke, "Check out her uniform, she's an official messenger Navi. You of all people should have been able to recognize her kind from the start with all the fan mail you get, MegaMan" he said as he looked at the blue Navi.

"Well, most of it just goes straight into my PET E-mail folder." he answered him, and shifted his eyes to Lei as he stepped forward, "That's me." he said.

"Show-off. _Guts_ " The metal Navi muttered.

She was happy that at least one of them had recognized her company.

"Hi, My name is Lei and I'm from the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service." She fully introduced herself to all three of them.

She then took a step closer to MegaMan, and she suddenly noticed he looked different than what she had heard, also much shorter than she had thought, he was nearly at her eye level, maybe slightly taller than her, which was weird for her, so she just stared at him.

"U-uh.. Is there something on my face?" He asked, as his cheeks turned red.

Lei stepped closer to him, then she opened her mouth-

"You're so small!" She suddenly said and giggled at him.

GutsMan and ProtoMan broke into a loud laughter, while MegaMan was left frozen in shock.

"Oh, I meant that in a good way, don't worry!" Lei explained, "it's surprising because you'd expect this really big, strong-looking hero, yet instead it's a totally short, regular-looking Navi. Honestly, I think it's far more interesting this way!" Her eyes were filled with excitement.

"I'm not sure if that qualifies as a compliment, but thanks, I guess" MegaMan said with a confused expression, while scratching his head.

"She's right, MegaMan, even thought you grow a bit while in Hub Style, we still prefer you as a shorty" ProtoMan teased.

"I'm gonna hit you-" MegaMan started to say, as he noticed Lei had an amused expression on her face.

He blushed again.

"What's so funny, you started this whole thing" he muttered at her.

"I guess I did, sorry! Haha." she smiled widely.

Suddenly a voice was heard from somewhere above.

"ProtoMan! Are you there?" The face of a human young man with white hair and blue eyes appeared on a screen.

"Yes, I'm here, Enzan" The Navi answered him.

"Good, if you're not too busy I'd like you to help me with something, can you plug out to the PET for a moment?" The young man asked.

"Of course." The tall Navi confirmed, "Then I'll see you guys later, nice meeting you, delivery girl." He said, as he plugged out.

"Well I'm not gonna stay and be the third wheel, Enjoy yourselves! _Guts_ " said the other one.

"Oh, very funny-" the small Navi tried to protest, but before he could finish his sentence, the metal Navi had already plugged out.

It was just the two of them now.

"Sorry about him, he thinks he's just so hilarious.." MegaMan apologized and sighed.

Lei just smiled kindly as she took out the envelope containing the chip from her bag.

"Your message is actually a reply, you know" She said, watching his reaction carefully.

"A reply?" He was confused at first, but then his eyes widened as he suddenly remembered, "You mean.." He was shocked.

"Yes" Lei nodded, and smiled, as she handed him the envelope.

MegaMan took the letter from her hands and quickly pressed the button to dissolve the paper, then switched the recording on.

Bass' face appeared before him, then his short message played for both of the Navis to hear, and was over in seconds.

"Well, that's just like him" MegaMan said as he smiled, "I'm glad he's alright, though."

Lei noticed MegaMan's reaction was slightly different than Bass', but still cute, nonetheless.

"Probably shocking for you to know this, huh?" He asked her, and chuckled.

"Not anymore, actually," Lei answered him, "I was also the one to deliver him _your_ message, after all" She smiled.

MegaMan was utterly speechless for a good minute.

"Y-you? You delivered Bass my message? All the way to the UnderNet?" He stared at her, eyes wide.

"Mhm" She confirmed, amused by his reaction.

He was in utter shock for a few more moments.

"Wow, I can't believe this! I hope he didn't scare you too much, Bass definitely doesn't know how to treat women." He said.

Lei just giggled.

"Oh, he wasn't scary, just a bit rude, but he did cooperate eventually." She said.

MegaMan took a few seconds to process her words.

 _'Not scary? Bass?'_ He stared at the odd girl in front of him, _'She doesn't look like a fighter, how could she have not been terrified by him like every other normal Navi?'_ He asked himself, but his thoughts were interrupted-

"So how come you guys are friends? That's really interesting" She asked him, her big eyes curious.

Megaman blinked at her.

"Uh, well, that's kind of a long story, if you have the time for it-" The blue Navi explained.

Lei was absolutely, completely free.

"I'd love to hear!" She said with excitement, her blue eyes filled with interest.

MegaMan wasn't sure who this strange messenger Navi was, but she seemed really interested and he had nothing better to do, so why not?

They sat down on a nearby rock, as he started telling her all about his battles against Bass - how they started as pure enemies and slowly came to respect one another, how Bass actually saved him a few times despite saying how much he loathes him and his bond with his NetOP, and how he eventually agreed to combine both of their powers to fight a strong mutual evil enemy, which they won against, saving everyone.

Lei sat quietly and listened to every word, she was amazed at how much they had been through, and what a long way Bass has come, but one thing about that story bothered her.

Her brow furrowed as she looked at the blue Navi in front of her.

"Why did he hate the bond you have with your human?" She asked him.

MegaMan's expression turned somewhat sad at her question, and he remained silent for a while.

Lei just waited.

"Bass..." He begun saying, "Had a tragic past, something about his creator betraying him, I'm not too sure myself, but I know that's mainly the reason he hates humans and Navis who trust their NetOPs now.

Hearing this caught Lei off guard.

 _'Bass_ _was betrayed...?_ _by his..._ _creator?'_ A million thoughts ran through her mind.

MegaMan watched the girl in front of him for a few moments.

"You okay, Lei?" He asked her.

She was snapped back into reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She reassured him, smiling. "I just didn't expect to learn that about him, that sure surprised me." She admitted.

"I know what you mean, that shocked me too when he first told me, but he didn't go as far as to share the details with me, I guess I'm just not cool enough or something" MegaMan joked, and smiled at her.

Lei laughed.

"I think your friendship with him is really amazing" she smiled her widest smile at him, "Thank you for telling me about it, MegaMan."

He blushed as red as a tomato at her thanking him so honestly.

"N-no problem! Haha" He said, and laughed nervously.

Shortly after, MegaMan had recorded his reply to Bass, handed Lei back the chip, and signed her form for confirmation.

He thanked her and waved her goodbye, as he watched her take off on her way to the UnderNet, once again.

* * *

 **A/N: MegaMan is such a cutie.**

 **The message exchange between Bass and him is pretty funny to think about, and it's all because Bass insists on being such a grandma. Or is there another reason? Hmm.**

 **Also, Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback, I appreciate it very much!  
**


	7. Alone

**~Chapter 7~**

* * *

As she was floating outside NetCity, Lei sunk deep into thought.

All the things MegaMan had told her kept running through her head.

 _'To think that Bass was once a normal NetNavi just like everyone else.. That's amazing on its own'_

She blinked.

 _'I wonder if that's what Serenade meant when he said there were things better not getting into.'_ She thought to herself.

 _'But what exactly happened?'_ She couldn't help but be interested.

Suddenly she stopped.

Why was this making her so curious anyways?

Her brow furrowed.

She thought about it for a few more moments, but she just couldn't think of any special reason behind her interest.

 _'I guess it just does.'_ She concluded to herself, as she continued moving.

Before she noticed, she had already reached the familiar square arch marking the entrance to the UnderNet.

Lei stopped and looked at the old, messed up relics before her.

She did her usual ritual to calm herself down before making any big steps or decisions, as she stretched out her arms, and clapped her hands together, then flew in right through the gate.

She floated for a good while not even sure where she should look for Bass this time, due to the simple fact that the only reason she found him on her previous visit was thanks to the screams of his enemies.

Lei decided her best option was to just continue moving, and enjoy the scenery while she's at it.

Somehow, being back in the UnderNet with all its odd colors and features had a strange effect on her.

She felt free.

The whole place was just so different from what she was used to, it was like a completely different universe, as if there were no rules, nothing to tie her down.

Without noticing, Lei suddenly found herself arriving at a rather rocky area.

She stopped and looked all around her, trying to make out some sort of a path, but with no luck.

Lei simply crossed her arms, and nodded,

"Yup, I'm lost." She said to herself.

She then noticed the sky suddenly changed into a completely different color; it was a mix of bright pink, dark blue and some light mint green, all fading into each other like nothing she had ever seen before, and it was just so captivating that she couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Beautiful." She said to herself, while looking up in every direction, completely forgetting her problem.

She didn't even notice another NetNavi watching her for quite some time now.

"What are you doing" A familiar firm voice demanded to know.

Lei perked up, surprised.

She knew exactly who it was, as she turned and noticed the cloaked Navi sitting on top of a high, big rock not far from her.

Luckily for her – it was him who found her this time.

"Oh, hi Bass!" She called smiling, and waved to him, as she lowered herself to the ground.

He glared at her.

"How about you keep it down already? You've already attracted enough attention last time you were here, Now I have to hear stupid shits blabbering everywhere about _'The Navi delivery girl.'"_ He said, irritated, as he floated down until the soles of his boots touched the surface.

"Me?" She asked, as she pointed to herself, her blue eyes wide with surprise.

Bass stepped closer, until he was right in front of her.

"This is the UnderNet, you know." He said with malice in his voice, his red eyes glaring down at her, "How naive are you to go around this place all alone, with zero defense, for the second time already? Or are you just an idiot." The last part didn't even sound like a question.

Lei stared up at him for a few moments.

"Is this your awkward way of worrying about me?" She asked as she smiled softly and cocked her head to the side.

His eyes widened in shock.

"Why would I waste my time worrying over a useless girl like you!" He suddenly raised his voice, his expression was pure anger.

Lei giggled at him.

"You're awfully loud for someone who had just told me to keep it down" She teased.

Bass just let out a growl, and said nothing, as he narrowed his eyes at her.

Lei narrowed her eyes right back at him, jokingly.

She then took out MegaMan's chip from inside her bag and held it in her open hand at his direction.

"I have MegaMan's reply to you" She said.

He just stared at her gesture, still silent.

"You still don't trust me?" She asked, surprised, her blue eyes trying to figure out what on earth was he thinking.

He didn't answer her, just shifted his eyes to her for a moment, and back to the chip, then lifted his hand out of his cloak to take it out of hers.

Lei watched him closely as he successfully activated it without needing her help, and MegaMan's face appeared before him, once again.

"Glad to hear, Bass! We'll be happy to take you down anytime, just say when and we'll be there!"

With that, the message ended.

" _'We'_?" Bass asked himself, "Does he mean him and that idiot human of his? How pathetic." He scoffed.

Lei noticed his expression suddenly turned cold.

She remembered what MegaMan had said.

"Why is it pathetic?" She asked him, watching him closely.

Bass lifted his gaze to her, and kept silent for the longest time.

"Bonds between humans and Navis are meant to fail" he suddenly spoke with a firm voice, as he watched her.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Why is that?" She asked him, her large eyes fixed on him.

Bass went silent again, as he just stared at the girl in front of him, expressionless.

She couldn't tell what he was thinking, and it bothered her.

Then, his mouth broke into a sardonic smile.

"Hmph, someone like _you_ will never understand." He determined so easily, as if it was a known fact.

Lei was silent.

He expected her to start protesting and try to forcibly make him tell her, yet she didn't.

Instead, she just stared up at him with her large blue eyes and a sad expression.

 _'Why the hell is she so quiet?'_ He thought to himself.

"What is it?" He finally asked, when he couldn't take the silence anymore, irritated.

"What makes you so sure that I wouldn't understand you?" She asked him, her voice sincere.

He chuckled bitterly.

"Just go back to your happy little life and friends in NetCity, girl, my past is none of your concern" He shot at her, his expression cold, again.

Lei's eyes were fixed on the cloaked Navi's red ones.

"I want to know about you, Bass" she said, her voice didn't waver one bit.

His eyes widened at her sudden words.

He didn't say anything.

 _'What is she playing at?'_ he thought to himself, _'What does she gain out of this?'_

"Why?" He demanded to know, looking down at her.

Lei was silent for a moment.

He watched her.

"I'm curious about you." She finally said, softly.

Neither of them spoke a word for the longest time, and they didn't break eye contact.

Suddenly, He lifted his hand up to his chest and grabbed his cloak.

"I was betrayed and abandoned by my human creator." He said, as he removed it away, revealing what was underneath.

Lei's eyes widened.

His Navi symbol and chest had a huge white scar on them.

She didn't say a word.

"I was created in a lab as the first ever independent NetNavi to not need an operator," He continued, "I was protecting the CyberNet by demonstrating how pathetic the security systems that were supposed to defend it are, but my strength caused some of the humans to fear me, and they wanted me deleted."

He lowered his hand back to his side and clenched it into a fist.

"My creator was the only one to defend me at the time, but he had grown tired of me as well while fooling me into believing that he still cares about my well being. It was obvious he didn't as he imprisoned me and made me wear ridiculous limiters on me to reduce my powers, yet I was too naive to see it."

Lei kept silent.

 _'They wanted to delete him for simply doing his job? And his creator's only solution was to imprison him?'_ She was shocked.

"While I was still imprisoned, I was blamed for disrupting the Net, and then ordered to be immediately deleted."

His face turned expressionless, as he continued;

"Shortly after that, a group of security Navis was sent to kill me. My creator was suddenly nowhere to be found, which finally made me realize that I've been completely abandoned. They thought those shitty limiters were enough to stop me, but the idiots had another thing coming, and I managed to destroy them all."

He smiled viciously.

"This scar on me keeps reminding me that humans can't be trusted, while it's also a proof of how strong I am, and I'm _damn_ proud of it."

With that, he was finished, as he looked up at the female Navi.

She was speechless.

She couldn't believe Bass had been through so much, that his past was so hurtful to him, it had literally shattered his faith in humans and other Navis alike.

Lei finally understood.

 _'That_ _was the reason he_ _was always alone.'_

She just felt so...

"What are you getting all sad for, you're the one who was 'curious about me'." He said as he laughed at her reaction, "That story is nothing, it only makes me feel better every time I remember those fucking losers."

Lei still didn't say a word.

Instead, she only stepped forward, closer to him, until there was little space left between them.

Her blue eyes closely examining the scarred Navi symbol in the middle of his chest.

It was diagonally sliced, right in the middle.

She couldn't even begin to imagine the pain.

He just watched her.

Neither of them spoke.

 _'Always_ _fighting alone, Always_ _surviving alone.._

 _He wasn't evil_ _from the start.._ _he was just hurt.'_ She thought to herself.

Then, she started lifting both of her hands to him.

"What are you doing?" Bass quickly protested, confused by her sudden actions and causing her to stop for moment.

"Could you stay still for a second?" She asked him with a quiet voice, and lifted her eyes to meet his.

Her gaze was so sincere that it paralyzed him for a moment, but he quickly recovered,

"Don't you dare try anything weird on m-"

He stopped talking all at once, as he felt her small hands slowly and gently make their way from under each of his arms, all the way to the center of his upper back, stopping right in-between his shoulder blades, her arms eventually enveloping both sides of him in a hug, drawing both of their bodies closer until there was no room between them, while resting her chin on his front shoulder against the fabric of his cloak.

Her touch sent shivers through his whole system, and he tensed up as his eyes went wide and his mind completely blank.

His arms and hands were left frozen above her gentle embrace.

 _'How can anyone deal with something like that on their own?'_ She thought.

Lei took in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry I made you remember this, I'm sorry you had to suffer through all that by yourself... Thank you for telling me, Bass." She almost whispered as she squeezed him tighter, her fingers gently pressing into his back.

Hearing her say that, he only exhaled silently,

And Lei could finally feel his body relax.

He then suddenly leaned forward a bit, as he buried his face into her shoulder while wrapping one arm around her waist, pulling her even closer and higher to him, forcing her to stand on her toes.

Lei closed her eyes as she returned his gesture and lowered her face as well, until it was buried into his cloaked shoulder.

Neither of them spoke.

They only lingered like that for a few more minutes.

* * *

 **A/N: Aww poor Bass.**

 **Dont worry, that doesnt mean he's suddenly gonna go all soft ;)**

 **This chapter was really fun to write, although quite hard. I hope did well there.**

 **I got really addicted to Nathan Furst's song, 'Marshall Motors' After re-watching NfS with my friend the other day. It's such an amazingly heartfelt composed piece that it really made me want to write an emotional scene. ^^  
**

 **As always, Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Please review and tell me what you think!**


	8. Curious

**A/N: Just wanted to say thank you all so much for all of your reviews! They mean a great deal to me. :)  
**

 **This chapter and the next after it will be Bass' POV.**

 **Enjoy~**

 **~Chapter 8~**

* * *

 _'What is this feeling?'_ Bass thought to himself, still holding her.

His mind was finally back and working again.

He was... _holding_ her.

He blinked.

Everything happened so fast, he wasn't even sure what was going on anymore, all he did know at that moment was this strange feeling that he couldn't name, slowly filling every part of him.

He remembered when it all started.

* * *

"T-this isn't worth it, damn it! Just you fucking wait, Bass!" Stuttered a large and bulky metal Navi while shaking with fear, then disappeared into a bright blue beam of light, as his gang members were quick to follow his example.

 _'Running away again as soon as they_ _see my actual powers, huh..'_ Bass thought to himself.

But he wasn't surprised.

They always did.

MegaMan was an exception, of course, but he was also his nemesis, so fighting him was nothing new.

 _'How boring.'_

Bass was just about to leave, when he suddenly noticed there was one more Navi left on the ground.

He didn't say anything and just watched him for a few moments.

His arms and legs were almost completely dissolved, and it was clear that he was in too much of a bad shape to plug out.

Bass lifted his right hand out of his cloak at the broken Navi on the ground, while the latter just gritted his teeth.

He just stared down at him.

 _'Pathetic.._ _This isn't_ _even worth_ _killing.'_

But before he could even manage to cancel his attack-

 _She_ appeared.

A short, long-haired Navi girl, able to fly, yelling for him to stop with wide eyes and a worried expression on her face.

The sudden outburst of the girl surprised him so much that it had completely cut his line of thought, and his full attention was now completely shifted to her.

He watched her as she flew closer, until she was right between him and the broken NetNavi on the ground.

 _'Who's this girl?'_

 _'Is_ _she working with these guys?'_

So many questions started popping in Bass' mind, yet he decided that for now, it would be for the best to just watch how the scene plays out before him.

He noticed that she was looking straight up at him, while not even breaking his eye contact for a second.

 _'What is she planning?'_

They all kept quiet for a few moments.

The girl then quickly told the Navi lying next to her to plug out, and he did.

Bass narrowed his eyes.

 _'She was buying him time? How pointless.'_

She was left alone.

He waited, but the girl kept silent.

 _'Is she planning on_ _fighting_ _me_ _now?_ _What a joke.'_

Running out of patience, Bass decided to scare her so that she would just run away like the rest and leave him be.

He was certainly in no mood for any more deluded fools thinking they could win against him today.

He gathered energy in his palm, then released a small amount of his attack to the rocks behind her. It was just enough to make a scary blast.

Bass watched her reaction carefully.

He wondered if she would still dare to look at him the way she did earlier after witnessing his power.

She flinched, But she didn't run away.

Instead, she lifted her gaze back at him, not even a spark of fear in her blue eyes.

He was surprised.

 _'Not running away.. Who is this girl?'_

He decided to ask, but she didn't answer.

Was she in shock or something?

Annoyed, He then decided to threaten her.

Yet she still wasn't scared, only said that she has something for him.

He wasn't expecting her voice to be this confident, and it took him a while to process her words.

 _'Something for me?'  
_

As he wondered what it could possibly be, he suddenly noticed she was looking at him; At every part of him. Her eyes were examining whatever she could lay them on.

Her expression turned calm as she did, as if simply looking at his features relaxed her, and he could feel her curious stare trying to figure him out.

He swallowed hard.

What was it that he was feeling?

It was nostalgic and odd and it was as if he was suddenly awake from a deep sleep and sensitive to every little thing around him.

 _'Why am I getting.. nervous? What the hell is she doing?'_

He hated it.

It made him feel weaker, and he most certainly did not like that.

He demanded for some answers from the girl again, and this time she complied, only it wasn't like anything he had expected.

He was so confused.

Even though, This was the first time he had ever actually stopped to think about that nickname.

Fact was, he didn't even know why that name was given for him.

He then realized he was literally wasting his time thinking about nonsense.

And it was all this girl's fault.

He stared down at her.

 _'Asking me about that stupid_ _nickname.. Why the hell is she_ _interested in such trivial matters?'_

She didn't make any sense to him.

Bass decided to just remind her to give him whatever the hell she had for him and end this strange encounter.

The female Navi suddenly perked up as she happily took an envelope out of her bag, and floated up to the air until she was right in front of him, so she could meet his eye level.

It was so unexpected, he instinctively pulled back.

His brow furrowed.

 _'How is_ _this girl_ _not afraid of me? Did she not see me_ _destroy a bunch of Navis just now? Does she not know who I am?'_

He felt that annoying nervousness again.

Why was he reacting this way?

Then, he suddenly realized;

 _'Is there a chance that this girl is just incredibly_ _powerful?'_

He stared at her as she held the letter to him, smiling.

She was close enough for him to finally examine her features;

Short, Big eyes, gentle smile, long hair, small hands.

He stared at her for a little longer.

 _'This_ _girl is no fighter..'  
_

And just like that, he was back at square one.

He decided this girl was suspicious, simply because there was no way a Navi like her was hanging around the UnderNet just like that.

She was still holding the letter to him, waiting for him to take it.

He didn't.

Instead, he simply lowered himself away from her, as he finally realized what was going on.

 _'This_ _has_ _to be a trap.'_

He made sure she knew he wasn't going to fall for it, positive that this will finally break her facade, Yet she only insisted, explaining that she's a messenger Navi working for a delivery company in NetCity.

'Official Message & Delivery Service company?' He had Never heard of it, which only made it sound more and more like a lie to him.

Bass had enough with this girls' nonsense.

He decided to threaten to kill her, as that usually shuts everyone up.

Not this girl, though.

She suddenly snapped, and flew all the way down to his level, until she was right in front of him, yet slightly above him. Her blue eyes were fixed on his red ones and her stare pinning him down as she told him she was not leaving until he accepted her delivery, since she came especially to find him all the way from NetCity.

He was utterly surprised at her unexpected stubbornness.

This girl was frustrated with him.

Was giving him this letter that important to her?

He stared at her.

 _'She's actually serious about this stupid letter..'_

Bass kept silent.

He still didn't trust her, but if she was still deceiving him after all that, then this girl was a great liar.

The cloaked Navi decided to let her open whatever was inside, just in case.

She did, as she narrowed her eyes at him.

He watched her carefully as she quickly and efficiently used her hands to press the button to dissolve the letter into air, then find the tiny switch on the chip to activate the recording.

She held the chip in her open palm as a strong light was suddenly projected out of it.

It was a message from that idiot MegaMan asking for his well being.

 _'How stupid and unnecessary.'_

To think that all of this getup was just for his nemesis to ask him if he's doing okay.. how embarrassing.

He blinked.

But it sure has been a long time since anyone had asked him that.

He chuckled to himself behind his cloak.

"Cute."

Her sudden words snapped him into reality.

He wasn't sure he heard her right.

Did she.. just call him..

He dared her to repeat it, and she did.

Bass was shocked.

He lowered his face into his cape.

 _'What is up with_ _this girl? Is she deliberately trying to mess with me?'_

For some reason, he just didn't want her to see his face.

He was simply at loss of words and he kept silent for the longest time.

Noticing how quiet he was, she asked him if he was alright while reaching to him.

 _'What the fuck is she planning_ _now?'_

Alarmed, He grabbed her wrist to stop her.

His eyes drifted to her hand, and he noticed how small it was compared to his.

She was so fragile.

 _'Why the hell am I_ _getting this nervous_ _again?'_

He let the girl know he will not tolerate being called 'cute' ever again.

She apologized, and he quickly released her.

He lifted his face and stared at the female Navi in front of him.

She looked just as confused as he felt.

 _'Is this girl_ _just really_ _naive?'_

He couldn't tell.

Shortly after, he remembered he still needed to reply to his nemesis, and he demanded for instructions.

The girl was strangely happy to teach him, and she explained everything very clearly, making it fairly easy to understand.

 _'At least she knows her job_ _well.'_

He grabbed the chip from her hand and recorded his reply, then proceeded to ask the girl how MegaMan was supposed to get it.

Her blue eyes suddenly lit up as she begun explaining his options to him.

Bass just couldn't understand what made her suddenly this excited.

 _'What_ _the hell is she_ _so_ _happy_ _about?_ _I only asked a technical question'_

He just stared at this jaunty girl in front of him.

She finished her thorough explanation, and Bass pondered his options.

 _'So_ _I can either list my details for everyone to see, or continue with this girls' service?'_

The answer was clear to him.

Of course giving useless NetNavis free information about him on a silver platter like that was a bad idea.

He told her his decision.

And she started laughing.

It took him a few moments to process what was happening before him.

This delivery girl was laughing at _him_ \- the UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi.

While most Navis were too scared to even approach him, and those who did, either ended up dead or eventually ran for their lives in fear,

This girl - this tiny, weak looking girl, was laughing so openly at him.

And what the hell was so funny about what he said anyway?

He just stared at her as she wiped away the tears forming at the corners of her blue eyes from laughing too much.

He didn't understand her. She made absolutely no sense to him.

 _'This girl is strange.'_

Bass then realized he had absolutely no idea what she was thinking, which he figured was the reason for his nervousness.

 _'Fuck.'_

This whole situation was ridiculous.

He had to threaten her or something to calm himself down, But as expected, she wasn't even fazed.

The cloaked Navi had reached a new conclusion.

 _'I can't scare this girl.'_

She was just way too unexpected.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

Was this girl really a messenger Navi?

Was he ever even going to see her again? Or was this all just an elaborate trap after all?

He asked her.

Bad idea.

He just gave her a new way to tease him again.

 _'This girl...'_

He gritted his teeth with frustration.

She only smiled wide at him.

He stared at her.

 _'Why the hell do I_ _let her get to_ _me like this?'_

He had no answer.

Shortly after, She finally left with his reply to MegaMan.

He just watched her fly away from where they stood, when suddenly, she turned back at his direction.

 _'What now?'_

She just lifted her hand in the air and waved at him.

"I'm Lei, by the way!" She yelled and smiled, then continued on her way.

He said nothing as he continued watching her until she disappeared into the distance.

Then, he sighed.

The nervousness was finally gone.

Bass then turned around in the opposite direction and started moving.

He wasn't sure where he was going, but he decided to just call it a day and find a quiet place for him rest.

After flying for a good while, Bass finally reached a large field which he deemed as deserted enough. He looked around and noticed a thick and tall pillar standing in the middle of it, so he flew to the very top, lowered himself onto its surface and sat down.

He lay on his back, His red eyes staring at the dark colored sky above him.

 _'I'm Lei, by the way!'_

Her face and voice popped into his mind.

"We'll see if that girl was telling the truth tomorrow." He said to himself.

* * *

The next day was just like any other day for Bass.

He woke up from the annoying voices of various gangs of criminal NetNavis roaming the ground far beneath him, some of them actually hunting for him, some just passing by, not sparing his ears, causing him to exhale loudly.

This place was not as deserted as he had first thought.

He didn't plan to waste his time fighting against another useless idiots, so he decided to simply ignore them.

Unfortunately for him, they were extremely loud, and seemed like they weren't planning to leave anytime soon, So he rose to his feet, and decided to leave.

Bass could hear the screams behind him as all the NetNavis on the ground noticed him.

 _'Those pathetic vermin should be thankful they're too weak for me to even bother.'_ He thought to himself, annoyed.

Suddenly, he felt an attack hit and then dissolve against his automatic shield from somewhere behind him.

He stopped right in his place and turned around, his red eyes emitting a death glare.

"As you wish." He said.

Bass then lowered himself closer to the group of Navis, making them fire a few more useless attacks at him.

He didn't say a word, only lifted his right hand out of his cloak and up in the air.

The cloaked Navi smiled viciously, as a large amount of purple energy begun forming in his palm, causing some of the Navis below him to panic and plug out at the sight of his tremendous power, while the rest were either too slow, or too shocked to even act.

" _Darkness Overload!_ " He yelled as he released his attack at whoever was beneath him.

The explosion was so loud and so destructive, it was probably felt through most of the UnderNet.

Bass stayed floating until the dust settled, as he looked at the remains below him.

All that was now left of the area was raw, destroyed ground.

"Pathetic scums." He spat.

He then turned around and continued in his way.

He was heading to the black market, which was a vast area deep inside the UnderNet, known for dealing in various illegal power-ups, powerful battle chips and gambling, but the cloaked Navi wasn't interested in any of that.

He was heading there for a different reason.

* * *

After a while, Bass finally arrived at the noisy market area, and it was as crowded and bustling as ever.

..That until everyone noticed him, of course.

He lowered himself to the ground, resulting in all of the NetNavis around him suddenly going quiet and staring at him with wide eyes.

 _"-The black shadow-"_

 _"-It's Bass-"_

 _"-What's he doing here?-"_

He could hear all the whispers as he stepped through the shops, but they didn't bother him in the slightest, as he was already used to it.

 _'That old fool better be there.'_

He walked until he reached an old, dirty and tattered looking shop, with no one behind its counter.

He stopped.

"Old man!" He called into the empty space before him, yet his voice was left with no answer.

Suddenly, an old looking NetNavi slowly raised his head from behind the dirty counter.

He coughed, then rose to his feet, still half asleep.

Bass was silent as he watched him.

"Well, well.." The old clerk's mouth broke into a scheming smile as he noticed UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi standing before him, "Look who we have 'ere."

He coughed again and scratched his back.

"What can I help ya with today, Bass? Wakin' me up like this..it's my day off you know-" He asked as he sat on a nearby wooden chair.

The cloaked Navi kept silent for a few more moments.

"I want you to tell me everything you know about the civilian delivery service company in NetCity" He said, his voice demanding.

The old Navi shot him with a confused look.

"Why? You lookin' for a job or somethin'?" He asked him with a sly smile.

Bass glared at him.

"Don't try to be funny with me, old man." He said, his voice menacing and his red eyes glaring daggers.

The old Navi broke into a raspy laugh.

"Still can't take a joke, huh!" He smiled at the cloaked Navi in front of him.

Bass didn't say a word, only continued to glare at the dirty looking Navi in front of him.

"The delivery service in NetCity huh.. You mean the Official Message & Delivery Service company." The old clerk recalled.

The cloaked Navi kept silent.

 _'So that girl was telling the truth_ _after all.'_ He thought to himself.

The old Navi coughed.

"That's the biggest delivery company in CyberWorld." He said as he scratched his back again, "Why's everyone talkin' about those guys all of a sudden?"

Bass' brow furrowed.

"What?" He asked.

"Just an hour ago some scary lookin' fellas went through here, talkin' about some pretty delivery girl" He explained, "Bullshit, if you ask me.. No cute delivery girls ever set foot in this place.. Pity, I could sure use one! HAHAHA" The old Navi broke into a raspy loud laugh once again.

Bass went silent, and lowered his eyes to the ground.

 _'It's because that idiot saved that trash of a Navi'_ He thought to himself.

He then turned on his heel, lifted his gaze to the sky and flew away from the old Navi's shop.

"What the hell!" The clerk yelled at him from below, "That's it? You come, get your information an' leave, huh! Not even one 'Thank you' in ten whole years! Damn it." The old Navi cursed, coughed, and lay back down to sleep.

Bass was already far from the noisy market area.

 _'Stupid girl, those shitheads are probably just_ _waiting for her to come back now'_

Suddenly, his mouth broke into a vicious grin.

 _'That should teach_ _her not to go around this place so carelessly_ _.'_

He laughed and picked up his speed.

* * *

Bass passed the rest of his day searching for a new quiet place to rest in.

After a while, he finally reached an area full of tall rock formations.

He knew he found the right place this time, due to the simple fact that for regular non-flying NetNavis, a place like this was the equivalent of a maze and a guaranteed way to get lost.

Bass flew to the top of the closest rock formation to him, and sat down on its smooth surface.

It wasn't nearly as high as the pillar he had found yesterday, but he figured it will do for now.

He lay down and noticed the sky above him was different than usual, it was a combination of bright pink, dark blue and light mint green, fading into each other while glowing vibrantly.

 _'Too_ _bright.'_

He closed his eyes, and stayed like that for a while.

But he just couldn't relax.

Something wasn't right.

He shifted back into a sitting position and stared at the surface next to him.

 _'Why am I this uneasy?'_

Since he couldn't find a logical reason, he decided to just ignore this annoying feeling.

He closed his eyes again, and eventually he fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: So those were 48 hours of fun with Bass.**

 **I refuse to believe that this guy spent 10 whole years without forming at least some kind of a connection other than MegaMan, so I made him have an old acquaintance - someone who he comes to collect information from who's always updated due to his job and surroundings.**

 **His name is Jarro. (And even after 10 years, Bass is still too rude to acknowledge him by it.)**

 **Please continue to tell me what you think!**


	9. Trust

**A/N: Sorry for the relatively late update guys, I'm managing this story between school and life in general and I'm trying my best to get the chapters out as soon as I can.**

 **I promise I won't bail, so please just bear with me :)**

 **Last part of Bass' POV.  
**

 **~Chapter 9~**

* * *

It was already Wednesday noon and a surprisingly quiet one.

Bass slowly woke up as he rose into a sitting position, placing one arm on his bent knee.

He looked around him.

Even though there were no gangs of criminal NetNavis to bother his rest this time, the cloaked Navi couldn't remember the last time he had such a bad sleep session.

He suddenly recalled the uneasy feeling he had before falling asleep.

"Damn it." He cursed to himself.

He lifted his eyes to the sky above him, which still glowed with the same vibrant colors from the day before, and stared up at it for a few minutes.

 _'What is it that's bothering me so much?'_

He didn't have an answer.

As he rose to his feet on the surface of the rock formation he had just spent the night on, Bass suddenly heard a voice.

He quickly turned around to the source of it, when he noticed a small figure at the distance.

The cloaked Navi lowered himself back into a crouching position immediately to prevent himself from being seen, while placing one hand on the surface next to him to balance himself.

He kept silent as he watched the figure getting closer and closer.

Bass just waited, ready to eliminate whoever that was, if needed to.

Eventually, the mysterious Navi was close enough for him to have a clear view of them.

His eyes widened at the sight of her.

It was the delivery girl.

The same one he met just a few days ago, the same one to look at him with that strong gaze of hers, the same one to not even be slightly afraid of him, the same one who called him 'cute', and the same one who laughed at him until she cried.

 _'That delivery girl..'_

She was back, carelessly venturing through the UnderNet just like that.

Bass exhaled, and decided to keep quiet and simply watch her.

The girl was floating slowly, while quickly looking around at every direction, as if she was searching for something.

Suddenly, she lifted her eyes to the sky above her, and he noticed her expression changed.

He kept watching, as he wondered what the hell was this odd girl below him doing.

She was now smiling, her wide blue eyes fixed on the bright colors above her, as she spun around herself, trying to catch a glimpse of every part of it.

"Beautiful." he suddenly heard her quietly say to herself.

The cloaked Navi blinked, and narrowed his eyes at her.

 _'So fucking defenseless.. She's lucky those shitheads didn't find her before I did.'_

This girl was truly naive.

And what was she even looking at, anyway?

He lifted his eyes up to the sky as well.

It had the same annoying, overly-bright colors from before. Nothing special.

He lowered his gaze back down at the girl and watched her for a few more moments, while shifting into a sitting position.

Eventually, he had enough.

"What are you doing." He asked her with a demanding voice.

The girl suddenly perked up as she heard him, and quickly looked all around her to find the source of his voice, her long ponytail flying after the swift movements of her head.

Their eyes finally met.

She called out to him, smiling wide and waving happily.

His eyes widened.

 _'What the hell is she yelling for? How clueless can this girl be?'_

He told her to keep it down, yet she only looked at him with wide eyes and a confused expression.

The cloaked Navi quickly floated down to the ground below him, and began walking at her direction.

 _'This girl is_ _unbelievable.'_

Irritated, he stepped closer until he was right in front of her.

She stayed right in her place, and only blinked while staring up at him.

There it was, that damn nervousness again.

He tried to ignore it as he glared down at her.

Bass just couldn't understand how this delivery girl could be so relaxed. Perhaps she somehow forgot where she was? In that case, even being simply naive was already pushing it.

He decided to remind her.

The girl went silent for a few moments, still staring up at him.

"Is this your awkward way of worrying about me?" She suddenly asked him with a soft smile.

His eyes widened in shock at her words.

 _'Worried?_ _Me?!'_

He froze for a few seconds.

It was so absurd, so unheard of, that it caught him completely off guard.

He quickly denied, forgetting to control his voice.

She teased him.

He growled.

 _'This_ _girl is driving me crazy.'_

He couldn't ignore the nervousness anymore.

He realized he felt like an open nerve around her, and that realization was messing with his head.

Bass went completely silent, and only narrowed his red eyes at the girl in front of him.

She only grinned.

Suddenly, the female Navi took his message out of her bag and presented it to him.

He just stared at her, not sure what to do anymore.

This girl was dangerous for him to be around.

He kept quiet and shifted his gaze to her small hands.

Neither of them said anything.

Then, it suddenly dawned on him;

 _'Am I actually being hesitant_ _because of_ _this girl? What the hell wrong with me!'_

He slapped himself mentally as he grabbed the chip out of her hand, and quickly activated it.

MegaMan's message was stupid, as usual.

Bass blinked.

Going over his nemesis' message in his head, he recalled he mentioned his human OP as well.

He glared at the chip in his right hand.

 _'That fool_ _still has faith in that bond, huh.'_

"Pathetic." He didn't mean to say it out loud, but he did.

The girl suddenly broke him out of his thoughts, questioning his last statement.

He lifted his gaze to her.

 _'Why', she asks?'_

Bass then realized that the female Navi in front of him was an independent one just like him.

He answered her, and watched her closely.

How did she even see the humans, anyway?

He was actually interested in her response.

They didn't break eye contact for a few moments.

Then, she answered, but her reply disappointed him.

As he had already guessed - this girl wasn't able to understand him.

He laughed at himself for even somehow thinking she might.

What _was_ he thinking, really? That this happy-go-lucky, strange delivery girl, living in NetCity, enjoying her everyday ordinary life, will suddenly share his opinions about the damn humans and see them as he does? Has he really gone crazy?

He decided to end this conversation.

The girl went silent, and she only stared up at him.

Bass watched her.

He was confused.

 _'Why isn't she forcing me into telling her like she forced me_ _to accept her stupid letter last time? Why is she just staring at me like that?_

 _And why is this bothering me so much?'_

He swallowed hard, as he started feeling nervous again.

He couldn't take the annoying silence anymore, so he spoke first.

She answered him almost immediately.

"What makes you so sure that I wouldn't understand you?"

Her sincere voice caught him off guard, but he knew better than to fall for that. He knew there was no way she could.

She answered him again.

"I want to know more about you, Bass."

His eyes widened.

He stared at her.

That was the first time anyone had ever said that to him.

This girl wanted to know more about him.

But.. Why?

Was she getting something out of this? Was she going to just tease him again? Laugh at him? Was she collecting information about him for whatever reason?

Why?

He knew he shouldn't ask her, but he did.

For some reason, he had the urge to know.

She was quiet for a few moments, Her large blue eyes staring up at him with a gentle expression.

"I'm curious about you." She finally said and blinked, her voice was soft.

Bass went completely silent.

He wasn't expecting that answer.

 _'Curious'_ _about me?'_

He pondered her words for a little longer.

Was that even a valid reason to ask someone about their past?

Then again, was there anything even remotely normal about this girl's way of thinking?

He then noticed the way she was looking at him; It was as if she was trying to figure him out, to understand him, as if she was asking him to let her in.

They didn't break eye contact the whole time.

Bass let out a deep breath he didn't even notice he was holding.

 _'Whatever.'_

He lifted his hand and revealed his scarred Navi symbol to her.

The girl's eyes went wide, and her lips parted in disbelief when she saw it.

She was shocked, as he thought she'd be.

He started telling her everything.

About his peaceful, naive days at the lab, about his imprisonment, about Dr. Cossack's betrayal, and about the humans ordering to delete him, which resulted in the scar on his symbol, and the death of the NetNavis who tried to kill him.

As he was sharing his past with her, he noticed the girl was completely silent, and her expression changed.

She was now looking at him with one that he hasn't seen anyone make for the longest time.

She just seemed incredibly sad.

He stared at her.

 _'Why is she getting sad for my_ _sake? She has nothing to do with this.'_

For some reason, Bass felt the urge to make her stop looking at him like that.

He broke into a loud laughter over her reaction, and told her that story only makes him feel better.

She kept silent.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

 _'Why isn't she saying anything?'_

He was confused at her lack of words.

Suddenly, the female Navi stepped closer to him, until there was little space left between them.

She was so close. Too close.

He didn't say a word.

Still completely silent, she was now looking down at his damaged Navi symbol.

He just watched her, as he felt her gaze on his white scar.

Bass wasn't sure what to do, so he stayed still.

Suddenly, the girl lifted both of her hands at his direction.

His eyes widened.

 _'What the hell is she thinking?'_

This reckless girl made him impossibly jumpy and he hated that effect she had on him.

He quickly tried to get some answers out of her.

She stopped for a moment, and he watched her.

The female Navi simply asked him to stay still, then lifted her face up to meet his.

Her expression was amazingly sincere, and her pleading blue eyes were staring deep into his red ones.

His nervousness skyrocketed.

Never before in his life, did the cloaked Navi think he'd be paralyzed by a mere expression, until today.

She continued raising her hands, and he knew he had to do something.

This was simply too much for him.

Yet.. Why the hell couldn't he move?

Bass could only make out half of a sentence before he went completely frozen to the feel of her gentle touch on both of his sides under both of his arms, and then at the center of his back.

Her small hands enveloped him in a hug, drawing both of their bodies closer until they were squeezed together.

He felt shivers run from his head all the way down to his feet.

He wasn't used to a touch this gentle, he was a fighter, a killer. He was known as UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi for a reason; he was the most powerful, the most vicious, and he only knew how to get what he wanted using force, and force only.

Yet this girl rendered him completely useless.

His mind went blank, and they stayed like that for few moments,

Until he heard her voice.

It was so soft, almost like a whisper, flowing straight into his ear.

She was sorry. Sorry for everything he had to go through alone and sorry about making him tell her about it.

She then thanked him for sharing his past with her.

His eyes widened as he processed her words.

How did she know?

The truth was, the less Bass had to remember his past, the better.

If there was one thing he hated about himself, it was the fact that after ten whole years, thinking and talking about what happened still affected him. He thought it was simply pathetic, and he tried his best to hide it; to somehow convince himself that losing that bond doesn't mean anything to him anymore, and that it's now just a memory of the past.

Yet deep inside, he knew it wasn't.

And this girl saw right through his mask.

This small, weak, delivery girl was making him realize things about himself that _he_ even forgot were there..

And she was holding him so gently, yet so tight.

His arm moved on its own as he wrapped it around her waist and lifted her even closer to him, accidentally catching some of her soft, long brown hair in his hand.

He couldn't let anyone see his face at that moment, let alone her, so he buried it into her shoulder, and he felt her do the same.

What was it that he was suddenly feeling?

He couldn't name it, but it felt as if all of his worries, all of his weight, was lifting off of him, fading out of his body and mind to somewhere far away.

Was it this girl?

Why the hell did she have this much effect on him?

The whole sensation was completely alien to him.

He was still nervous,

But he didn't hate it anymore.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, so next chapter will technically be the direct continuation of 7.**

 **I was debating with myself whether I should put his POV this early into the story or not, but then I realized we're already halfway done.**

 **As always, Thank you so much! I'm super glad you're enjoying this. Please keep telling me what you think!  
**


	10. Name

**~Chapter 10~**

* * *

 _'We haven't moved or said anything for at least five_ _minutes now_ ' Lei thought to herself, still sharing the tight embrace with UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi.

Her hands were holding onto his upper back underneath his cloak, and his hand was wrapped around her lower back, grabbing her waist and keeping her gently squeezed against him. Lei could tell he was using almost no force at all, yet his touch still felt incredibly strong.

Both of their faces were still buried deep into each other, and she wondered how things ended up this way.

She remembered how helpless she felt after hearing Bass' story, how shocked and sad she was to learn he had gone through so much and how lonely that must have been for him.

And she remembered she had no idea what to do.

Still, it made her also feel an incredibly strong urge to somehow lift some of that weight off of him; to somehow make him feel better.

Lei didn't expect him to actually hug her back, but somehow.. Both of them holding each other like this felt almost nice, and she had no explanation why.

She slowly lifted her head up from the fabric of his cloak, as she immediately felt him do the same.

Without saying a word or completely letting go, both Navis slowly inched away from each other, until they had enough distance to have a clear view of each others face.

Lei's hands were now pressed against the cloaked Navi's chest on both sides of his scarred Navi symbol, as his hand was now resting on the side of her waist.

Still silent, they both only stared at each other for the longest time.

Lei noticed Bass looked different; he finally had a calm expression on his face, and she couldn't resist exploring every detail of his features with her eyes, as she let them trail off from his intense red ones, which were the first thing she remembered seeing when first meeting him, to the purple streaks on both sides of his face, to his nose, and lastly his firm mouth.

For someone who was rumored to have a 'very intimidating face', she found Bass to be quite good looking.

 _'It's_ _probably just his constant_ _annoyed look_ _that_ _scares everyone away.'_ She thought to herself, as she shifted her eyes back to meet his, _'such a waste.'_

Neither of them spoke for a few more moments, and they didn't break eye contact.

Suddenly, a familiar ring was heard from a pocket on the strap of Lei's bag, causing both Navis to slightly jolt.

After they both released each other completely, Lei stepped back and took her small communication device out of its pocket in the strap of her messenger bag.

"Sorry, I have to take this" she said as she looked at Bass, "I'll make It quick."

He said nothing, as he watched her answer the call, revealing the face of a young male Navi with brown eyes and similar uniform only with red streaks instead of blue on the other end of it.

"What's up, Lei? Just finished my delivery for today, wanna meet up?" The male Navi said with a cheerful voice.

Lei smiled.

"Hi Dean, I'm good." She answered, "Sorry, but can I call you back in a bit?"

Dean's expression suddenly turned somewhat surprised.

"Sure, no problem. Everything okay?"

Lei remembered her decision to keep the delivery a secret, and she knew she needed to end this conversation as quickly as possible without looking suspicious. She thought about simply not answering him, but knowing Dean, he might just try calling again after a short while.

It made her feel slightly guilty again, but she knew it was for the best.

"Just fine, Thanks! I'll talk to you later, then." She said, and closed the conversation.

The small device was now laying in her open palm as she stared at it for a few moments.

 _'I'm sorry Dean, I'll tell you all about it when I'm finished.. I_ _promise.'_ She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the cloaked Navi's voice;

"Is everyone in your company as reckless as you, or is that something only you excel at?" He asked her with a mocking tone.

Lei lifted her gaze back to his face as she put the small device back in its pocket, and noticed his expression was now back to its usual, annoyed state.

She crossed her arms at him.

She was just so tired of hearing that word all the time.

"Reckless.." She said, "So what if I am? If I calculated each and every decision I've made up until this day, I would have never set foot in this place and exposed to how beautiful it is.. I would've probably just stayed in NetCity not even knowing what I was missing, I would've never met the people I did thanks to this delivery, and most importantly, I would have never ever heard about your story, Bass."

Hearing that last part, the cloaked Navi buried the lower part of his face behind his cloak.

"I hope I don't have to remind you, girl, that if you dare tell anyone about what happened here, I will make sure you regret it." He said with malice in his voice and glared at her.

Lei only giggled at his reaction.

"Aren't you tired of threatening me all the time?" She asked him and playfully stuck her tongue at his direction, "And my name isn't 'girl', its Lei. Try saying it."

Bass was silent for a few moments.

"Hmph, I know what your name is, stupid." He scoffed.

Lei stepped closer to him.

Bass didn't move and only watched her.

"Then say it." She demanded, staring up at him.

Lei didn't know why, but she was suddenly filled with the strange urge to hear Bass say her name. She never really cared all that much before when others sometimes forgot it or mistook her for someone else, but for some reason, hearing him say her name was suddenly important to her;

She just really wanted him to acknowledge her by it.

Both Navis just stared at each other for the longest time, not saying a word.

Lei's expression didn't waver for a second, as her blue eyes stared right into his red ones and her mouth formed a small pout.

Bass' just narrowed his gaze at the girl before him, then finally opened his mouth;

"Lei." He suddenly said with a quiet, but firm voice as he watched her.

She blinked as she heard her name come out of the cloaked Navi's mouth.

 _'He actually did it..'_ She thought to herself, surprised.

Suddenly, she felt heat starting to radiate out of her cheeks.

Lei stepped back.

 _'I didn't think it will have this much of an impact..?'_ She jokingly thought to herself as she shifted her gaze to the ground and started to lightly fan her face with her right hand.

Quickly regaining her cool, Lei remembered the reason she was there.

She lifted her gaze back to Bass.

"So, are you going to answer MegaMan's message?" She asked him with a curious expression.

The cloaked Navi blinked as he raised his left hand and opened it. He realized he had completely forgotten about holding the chip in his fist this whole time.

He stared at it for a few moments.

"No." He finally said and tossed the chip to her, "Just tell him to come to the UnderNet tomorrow at noon."

Lei caught it with both of her hands, and simply looked at him with a puzzled expression.

She was silent for a few moments.

"Are you seriously going to fight him?" She asked him, as her expression turned somewhat worried.

Bass watched her.

"He's my nemesis, we have a score to settle." He answered her.

Lei kept silent for the longest time, and only stared at him.

"What's the point in that?" She asked him, her blue eyes trying to figure him out.

Bass gritted his teeth.

"The point is, to determine which one of us is stronger." He said, as he glared at the female Navi, "MegaMan's powers were meant to rival mine, it's only natural for us to continue testing the limits of our abilities against each other."

Lei went silent again, and her expression turned sad.

 _'Why is that still_ _so important to him? Life holds so much more to it_ _than just fighting all the time.'_ She thought to herself.

He just watched her, confused at her odd reaction.

"Why the hell is this so hard for you to understand?" He asked, as he stepped closer to her, his red eyes glaring down straight into her blue ones.

She stared up at him, and kept silent for a few more moments.

 _''Why' he asks..'_ She thought to herself, _'Isn't it obvious..?'_

"I just.. don't want you to get hurt." She said with a quiet voice.

Bass didn't say anything.

He only stared down at the girl in front of him.

"Stupid." He suddenly spoke, "Believe me, I don't need you to worry about me. Fighting is what I do, and it's what I know best."

Lei didn't like that answer, so she didn't say anything.

Neither of them said a word for a while.

"If you're that worried, just come see me beat the shit out of that fool for yourself." He said and smiled viciously.

She blinked at him.

Did he just invite her to come see his battle with MegaMan?

She wondered if doing that will even calm her worries down, but she figured not knowing what was happening will be much worse.

Lei then realized she had never actually seen a NetNavi battle up close before in her life.

She would lie if she said that fact alone didn't suddenly make her interested.

"Okay." She answered him.

Bass' expression changed into a more relaxed one as he heard her response.

"Now go back to NetCity, your job here is done for today." He said with a demanding voice.

Lei's mouth suddenly broke into a troubled smile.

"I would, but.. You see, I'm kind of lost.." She almost whispered.

Bass stood in shock at the girl in front of him, then broke into a loud laugh.

"How can a NetNavi able to fly even get lost?!" He mocked her.

Lei bit her lower lip at she glared up at him, annoyed.

"Well, company regulations forbid us to fly higher than ten feet while on a delivery mission to avoid missing our destinations, and my GPS keeps dying here!" She explained, frustrated.

Bass stared down at her.

"I see." He said.

Suddenly, with a swift movement and no explanation, he wrapped one arm behind her back and another under her legs, lifting her easily up to his chest.

"Wah!" Wide eyed, Lei only managed to cry in surprise as he flew up, carrying her in his arms.

Instinctively, she clung onto him and buried her fingers deep into his cloak, forgetting for a second that she can fly herself.

He suddenly stopped, causing Lei to shift her confused gaze to him.

"There, you didn't break your company's stupid rule - I did." He said, smirking at her, "Now, see that white path to your far left? Follow it all the way to the entrance to NetCity"

Lei shifted her eyes to the ground and noticed they were high enough for her to finally see and recognize the way she came from.

She smiled.

"Thank you, Bass." She said, as she lifted her large blue eyes back to meet his.

He stared at her.

 _'Could she be anymore defenseless..'_ he thought to himself, gazing down at the girl he was holding.

The cloaked Navi said nothing, as he lowered himself back to the ground and let the girl down from his arms to her feet.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"MegaMan will know how to find me easily so just arrive with him tomorrow." He said.

Lei stared at him.

"I'm not going to get lost _again_." She answered, as she crossed her arms at him.

Bass was silent.

"That's not it." He said as he shifted his eyes away from her, "I was serious before when I said you've attracted unwanted attention, and you're way too defenseless on your own. MegaMan is a fool, but he could at least fend off some low-grade shitheads, if needed to."

He spoke in such a matter-of-fact tone, that Lei almost missed the hidden hint behind his words.

Was Bass actually.. worried about her?

She stared at him, silent for a few moments.

'Okay, I will.' She said softly.

They only stared at each other for a few moments.

"Oh!" Lei suddenly chirped with a surprised expression, "I almost forgot!"

She quickly opened her bag and took out the confirmation form out of it.

Bass didn't need her to explain the procedure again, and he complied without any problem. She giggled at how gently he tapped his hand on the paper, remembering how he had almost accidentally destroyed it by using too much force last time.

"I guess I'll be going then." She said to him.

Bass only nodded and watched her as she floated away and disappeared into the distance, once again.

He stood in his place for a few more moments, then lifted both of his hands out of his cloak and stared at them as he closed and reopened his fingers a few times.

 _'This stupid lingering feeling isn't going to leave_ _me anytime soon, is it..'_ He thought to himself, annoyed.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, I have such nice, evil ideas for this fic that I just can't wait to put in motion. Be sure to stay tuned! :)  
**

 ***Valinar - Thanks so much! 'ExOr' sounds pretty threatening, I like it.**


	11. Lies

**~Chapter 11~**

* * *

Flying out of the portal and right past the square arch she had already gotten used to seeing, Lei was deep into thought again.

She stopped to stare at the city in the distance for a few moments, accustoming her eyes to its brightness.

Her mind was so occupied with everything that has happened, that before she knew it, she was already back home, facing the high contrast between the UnderNet and NetCity which never failed to amaze her, as it also never failed to remind her where she truly belongs, and make her realize how abnormal her latest experience was.

She blinked.

 _'I.. Hugged Bass.'_ She thought to herself, ' _And he hugged me back.'_

Lei shifted her blue eyes to the ground.

How on earth could she tell anyone about this?

And would anyone even.. believe her?

She reached back and grabbed her long ponytail, then swept all of it forward to lay on her front left shoulder and chest.

Lei stared down at her fingers, as she ran them through her soft, straight brown hair.

 _'Was that_ _the first time he had ever hugged someone?'_ She couldn't help but wonder, turning a bit sad at that thought.

She blinked.

"Oh, right." She suddenly said to herself, as she remembered she needed to find MegaMan as soon as possible and tell him about Bass' invitation.

Lei quickly let go of her hair and started flying up at the city's direction in front of her, as she activated her now working again GPS to see where the system had him last checked in, and picked up her speed in that direction.

Not sure whether her sudden popularity had died down yet or not, she figured it would be the best to do as Dean suggested, and avoid the main streets for the time being.

Her eyes suddenly widened.

 _'Dean!'_ She thought to herself as she remembered, _'I have to call him back!'_

Lei took out her small communication device and quickly called her co-worker. She realized it has been a few hours since they had last spoken, and that there was a high chance that he had already gone home.

She smiled with relief as he picked up, the small device projecting his face before her.

"Hi Dean!" She said happily.

The male Navi smiled back at her.

"Hey, can finally talk, I see!" He said.

"Yeah! Sorry about that.." She apologized, "Does your offer still stand?"

Dean chuckled.

"Sure. Where are you now?" He answered.

Lei paused for a moment.

She figured that finding MegaMan and telling him about tomorrow would most likely not take her very long.

"I'm just running a quick errand, meet me at the usual place in about half an hour?" She asked.

"Alright, see ya there" Dean confirmed.

And with that, their conversation ended.

Lei clenched the small device in her palm as she stared at it.

 _'Okay, gotta make sure to just find MegaMan, tell him about tomorrow and leave. Nothing less, nothing_ _more!'_ She thought to herself, her expression determined.

* * *

After flying for about ten minutes following the route her GPS created for her, Lei eventually arrived at MegaMan's location.

He was training alone at the outer part of the city, and she was relieved to be lucky enough to catch him out of his PET.

She waved at him from the distance, catching his attention and causing him to stop his training all at once.

"Lei!" He called to her, surprised, as he watched her lower herself to the ground before him.

Lei smiled at the blue NetNavi.

"Hello MegaMan." She greeted him, noticing that he was wearing his helmet this time, and was looking rather different with it; younger, somehow.

"You're back!" He said and smiled, his green eyes wide, "In one piece!"

Lei giggled at his shocked expression.

"Yes, I am!" She said, jokingly crossing her arms at his obvious disbelief.

MegaMan's expression turned amused.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "I just don't think I'll ever get used to the idea of someone actually interacting with Bass and staying alive to talk about it.."

Lei blinked as she processed his words.

She realized that even after meeting Bass for the second time already, she still couldn't see why everyone feared him to such a degree they wouldn't even try and give him a chance. After all he even-

Suddenly, The memory of him telling her all about his past followed by their mutual hug popped into her mind, causing her eyes to widen.

Her brow furrowed as she quickly pushed it away from her thoughts, and regained her cool.

"I have his answer for you, but it's not recorded this time." She said, watching him closely.

MegaMan's green eyes flickered with interest.

"Really." He asked, as he stepped closer.

"Yes. Your rematch will be held in the UnderNet, tomorrow at noon." Lei said.

MegaMan's mouth broke into a wide smile as he clenched his fist with excitement.

"Alright!" He yelled, "Can't wait!"

Lei smiled at his excitement, but her amusement quickly faded as she remembered the true meaning behind the idea of them fighting against each other.

She stared in silence at the blue Navi in front of her for a few moments.

"Um." She begun saying, grabbing his attention, "Are you really going to fight him seriously?" She asked.

Lei knew it was none of her business to ask him, and that she had already pretty much received a clear answer from Bass about what the nature of their fight is going to be like, but she still just couldn't help it.

MegaMan blinked at her question.

"Well, if I'm not planning on fighting him seriously, I might as well just not fight him at all." He answered, cocking his head to the side with a confused expression.

Lei lifted her hands up and grabbed the strap of her messenger bag.

"Yeah, I guess you're right.." She said as she smiled at him, then shifted her gaze down to her hands.

 _'Was I hoping for a different answer out of him?'_ She thought to herself.

Both Navis stayed silent for a few moments.

"Is everything okay, Lei?" MegaMan suddenly asked her with a worried expression.

His question snapped her back from her thoughts.

She released the grip on her messenger bag's strap and lowered her hands back at both of her sides.

"Oh, I'm fine!" She said with a reassuring voice and smiled, "Say, I know this is a strange question, but do you think that maybe I could come with you tomorrow?"

MegaMan's expression turned into pure confusion at her words.

He stared at the female Navi in front of him.

"Sure.. But, what for?" He asked her.

Lei went silent for a few seconds.

"Well, I haven't actually seen a real NetNavi battle before in my life.. It sounds really interesting," She explained, her blue eyes curious.

MegaMan watched her as she continued.

"And.." She said as Her blue eyes shifted away from him, "I was kind of invited to watch it."

MegaMan scratched the back of his neck.

"Hmm, I guess you could come then.. You managed to travel there all alone by yourself and come back totally fine for the second time already, so what's another NetNavi battle for you?" He chuckled as he crossed his arms at her and winked.

Lei smiled wide at his approval.

For some reason, the way MegaMan treated the whole idea of him fighting against Bass relaxed her worries almost completely. She felt that if it was him who Bass was fighting against, then it was all going to be okay.

"Then, meet me at the entrance to the UnderNet tomorrow around noon." He said.

Lei nodded, then quickly made a memo for herself so that she won't forget.

Her eyes then shifted to the time, and widened in horror as she realized 30 minutes had already passed since she last talked with Dean.

"Oh crap!" She suddenly said and jolted, surprising him.

Wide-eyed, he just watched the female Navi panic in front of him.

"I'm sorry MegaMan! I have to go!" She said as she quickly turned away from the confused blue Navi, then started flying back at the direction of the city with high speed, "I'll see you tomorrow then! Bye!" She yelled mid-flight, turning back to him.

He could only chuckle in amusement as he waved goodbye at her, then continued with his training.

 _'To think that she would want to witness our fight just because she hasn't seen one yet.. That girl sure is something..'_ He thought to himself as he ran her words through his mind once again.

Then, MegaMan suddenly stopped as he remembered the delivery girl's second reason.

His brow furrowed as he processed what she said.

 _'Did she say she was.. invited to watch it?'_

He stood still for a few moments, staring at the direction the girl had just flew in.

Then, He blinked.

"No way.." He chuckled to himself, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

* * *

"Crap, crap, crap, crap." Lei chanted to herself, flying fast through the city.

 _'How could I forget to check the time? Hoooow?'_ She mentally slapped herself.

She was already ten minutes late, and not hearing from Dean only made her more anxious.

After a few minutes, she finally arrived at the park behind their workplace, and she lowered herself down to the ground, her blue eyes scanning everywhere, quickly spotting Dean, sitting by himself on one of the benches, reading the latest news projected from his communication device.

His gaze lifted to her as she stepped closer.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Dean..!" She apologized and quickly sat beside him.

Dean tapped the device and closed the news article, then jokingly crossed his arms at her.

"Making me wait for you, huh." He said as he narrowed his eyes.

Lei smiled sheepishly.

"I had a perfect plan for not being late! I swear." She said, raising both her hands to her face in an apologetic gesture.

Dean chuckled.

"It's okay, I already know you and how short your attention span is." He teased, sticking his tongue at her.

Lei narrowed her eyes at him.

"True.. But still uncalled for!" She crossed her arms and glared at him.

Both Navis broke into a loud laugh.

Lei wiped the tears forming in her eyes as she stared at her friend.

 _'It sure has been long since we both just sat and talked like this.'_ She thought to herself and smiled, suddenly realizing how much she missed their silly conversations.

"So how are you spending your luxurious vacation so far?" Dean asked her.

Lei's eyes widened.

"Oh.. Just doing some errands here and there, you know.. How's your delivery going, though?" She quickly changed the subject, preferring to lie to him as little as possible, realizing it never failed to leave her with that familiar prick of guilt she tried so hard to ignore.

Dean was silent for a few moments.

"Good actually, except for that annoying lady who lives on Main Street, the one who's always angry for no reason.. You know her." He said and sighed deeply.

Lei giggled, "Aw, she's not that bad." She said, and smiled.

Dean raised an eyebrow at the female Navi as he begun laughing.

"You're like the only one who actually thinks that, you know?" He said with a skeptical expression, "Then again, you basically never admitted to having a difficult delivery for as long as I've known you so I guess that only makes sense."

Lei shifted her blue eyes upward to stare at the night sky above them.

"I think categorizing things under 'difficult' is a mistake to begin with." She said.

He watched her as she continued;

"I don't really see anything as 'hard', on the contrary.. the more I have an opportunity to experience in new things, the better. Once you realize that, everything 'difficult' turns exciting and challenging instead." She said, shifting her blue eyes back to him and smiling widely.

Dean said nothing as he just stared at the female Navi sitting next to him for a few moments.

"I wish I had your attitude." He said, and smiled at her.

Lei giggled and shifted her eyes back to the sky.

 _'Really.. if only people didn't avoid everything they feared..'_ She thought to herself.

Both Navis chatted for another half an hour, then realized it was already getting late, so they decided to call it a day.

"Are you sure you don't want me to fly you back?" Dean asked, rubbing his neck.

Lei shook her head at him.

"It's fine, really." She confirmed, and smiled.

Dean stayed silent for a few moments, his finger tapping nervously on the back of his neck.

"Uh, Lei.. I was just thinking.." He suddenly begun saying, shifting his brown eyes away from her, "Do you.."

The female Navi only stared at him with a puzzled expression.

Shifting his eyes back to her face and seeing how confused he suddenly made her, Dean only sighed.

"Never mind. My bad." He quickly apologized.

Lei's confusion only grew at his words.

"Is everything okay, Dean?" She giggled at him, making him slightly blush.

"I'm perfectly fine." He said with an irritated voice, "See you on Monday, then."

Lei raised an eyebrow at her co-worker.

"Alright, bye." She turned away from him and started flying in her direction.

 _'What was that all about?'_ She thought to herself, still very confused at his behavior.

Dean stayed in his place for a few moments as he watched her fly away.

"Damn it." He spat, and kicked the ground next to him.

He stared at his now dirty shoe for a few moments, then sighed deeply.

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, thank you guys so much for your reviews! I'm always happy to read them, and I take everything I read into consideration.**


	12. Get Along

**A/N: Slight Delay, But still here! *Wipes sweat off forehead*  
**

 **~Chapter 12~**

* * *

 _'I almost forgot how flying without the messenger bag feels like_ _'_ Lei thought to herself, as she picked up her speed through NetCity, enjoying the cool wind against her face and in her long hair, _'So much.. Lighter.'_

It was already Wednesday noon, and the female Navi was making her way fast, flying carefully between the city's skyscrapers to the location she and MegaMan had agreed on meeting in, while making sure to maintain her height so that she could avoid any potential fans.

She didn't want to be late, after all.

 _'I wonder if he's already there..'_ Lei wondered, as she passed NetCity's exit, reaching the wide area outside of it and finally able to have a clear look of the portal to the UnderNet in the distance.

She narrowed her eyes as she continued flying in its direction, until she was finally able to make out the form of a short, blue NetNavi, sitting on the edge of the path next to it.

"MegaMan!" She called to him, catching his attention.

The male Navi lifted himself to his feet, and waved at her.

"Hey Lei!" He called back to her and smiled, as he watched her fly closer and closer, until she landed in front of him.

"Sorry, Did you wait long?" She asked as she lifted a hand to her mouth, her expression turning somewhat worried.

MegaMan shook his head at her.

"Nah, I just got here. To be honest, you had a perfect timing." He reassured, as he smiled and put a hand on his waist.

Both Navis shifted their eyes to the square arch.

"Ready?" He asked her.

Lei stared at the blue Navi next to her for a few seconds, then smiled.

"Ready." She answered with a confident voice.

* * *

Keeping with the pace of an ordinary non-flying NetNavi was something Lei wasn't very used to.

All of her friends from the delivery service were able to fly just like her, so it had been a long time since she needed to actually float next to one while still trying to somehow maintain a conversation. She found it odd and uncomfortable to basically talk to the top of MegaMan's helmet, so she decided to try marching as well.

"What are you doing?" The confused blue Navi asked, as he watched her lower herself next to him.

Lei only smiled at him.

"I'm walking from now on!" She declared.

MegaMan just stared at the female Navi next to him with a puzzled expression.

"You rather walk than fly?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lei shifted her blue eyes to her feet as they both kept moving.

"It feels weird talking to you while I'm in the air," She explained as she raised her gaze back to him, "So I decided I'd join you."

MegaMan chuckled, as they both continued moving.

"Man, I wish I could fly, you and Bass sure have it easy." He said as he lifted his green eyes to the oddly colored sky above them.

Lei said nothing and only stared at him as he continued;

"Well, I mean, At least you have that ability for a reason, Bass is just purely exploiting it."

Lei blinked as she remembered how the cloaked Navi helped her find the path back to NetCity the day before, then laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." She said and smiled at him.

MegaMan suddenly blinked.

"That reminds me.." He said as he jokingly narrowed his eyes at her, "You said you were 'Invited' to this fight, What did you mean?"

Lei went silent at his question for a few moments.

MegaMan simply waited for her answer, watching her closely.

"Bass invited me." She finally said.

MegaMan's eyes widened as he just stared at her for a while.

Neither of them spoke, and the silence was getting heavy.

"Holy crap." He said and chuckled.

Although his reaction was something Lei pretty much expected, somehow seeing with her own eyes how genuinely shocked he was to hear about it suddenly made her realize how undeniably odd it was of Bass to actually do something like invite another person to come see his battle.

Her brow furrowed.

 _'All I did_ _was_ _tell him I didn't want him to get hurt.._ _'_ She thought to herself, _'Isn't that a normal thing to be worried about?'_

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by MegaMan's voice;

"Oh, I didn't mean it in a bad way," he explained and smiled at her, "It's just super shocking, you know?"

But why was it _that_ shocking?

She still couldn't fully understand the big deal about the whole thing.

"Is Bass really that hard to talk to, normally?" She asked him, watching him closely.

MegaMan's green eyes widened at her question.

"Very. It took him a _long_ time until he actually started to trust and listen to me. And I'm not even gonna start talking about how he deals with NetNavis he doesn't know – he has two options for those: don't bother with, or kill on the spot." He explained and let out a sigh.

Lei stared at the blue Navi next to her for a few moments.

"I.. See." She said.

MegaMan stared back at her.

"So say, how _do_ you get him to cooperate so easily?" He asked her, his green eyes filled with interest, "If it was any other NetNavi, he would've probably not even listened to what they had to say.. Not to mention he has only met you for a few times and already inviting you to his battles."

Lei's expression turned confused.

"I'm not really sure.." She said, as she blinked at the blue Navi next to her.

MegaMan went silent for a few moments, staring at her.

"And yet he still listens to you.." He said as he playfully narrowed his eyes.

She simply nodded.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Maybe he likes you." He suddenly said as he crossed his arms and smirked at her.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his words.

She stared at him for a few moments, her expression turning into pure confusion, causing MegaMan to chuckle at her reaction.

"Well, I see no other reason!" He said.

Lei blinked.

Suddenly, she remembered the events which caused Bass to share the details of his past with her, making her exhale, as she realized the _actual_ reason behind them.

 _'He opened up to me just because I asked him to. That's all.'_ She thought to herself.

"I don't think that's the case.." She quickly said and smiled, "I guess we just kind of.. Get along?"

In truth, Lei wasn't even completely sure herself. But for the time being, she decided that was the best she could come up with.

MegaMan chuckled.

 _'Hmm.. We'll see about that.'_ He thought to himself, as he lowered his hands down back at each of his sides and continued moving.

* * *

After walking for a while and completely deserting the path which Lei had gotten to know so well, both Navis reached an area full of randomly arranged, tall piles of rubble.

"Well, Bass and I usually fought in a rather specific area of the UnderNet which is right behind these huge piles of rocks." MegaMan said as he turned to Lei, "So we're almost there."

Lei smiled at him as she looked all around her.

They had been talking for the whole time, so she barely noticed the completely new features this new part of the UnderNet had to offer her, gasping at how its uniqueness simply never failed to amaze her.

They both carefully walked over the rocky surface, and climbed over the piles of rocks which blocked their view, until they could finally see what was hiding behind them.

Lei's blue eyes widened as she gasped at what she was witnessing, and she could see all of it from where they were standing.

The wide ground surface before her had been pounded almost completely flat, looking as if it had been through many battles, each one reshaping it in a completely different way, leaving its mark on it as if it was a signature.

"Welcome to our battlefield, Lei." MegaMan said and smiled at her, as he jumped down the high pile of rocks they both stood on top of.

Lei was left astonished, as her lips parted in amazement and her blue eyes wandered all over the place.

"It's incredible!" She said, excited, as she floated down to the surface next to the blue Navi.

MegaMan shot her with a confused look.

"Is it?" He asked as he looked all around him, trying to figure out what she found so amazing about it, "It's just a messed up area that's comfortable for fighting." He turned back to the female Navi.

"Exactly." A third voice suddenly said, coming from behind them, making both Navis turn around to its source.

Bass was standing on top of the big pile of rocks they had just climbed down from, glaring down at them, his cloak fluttering in the wind.

MegaMan smiled with excitement.

"Bass!" He called to him, happy, "Man! It's been a long time since I've seen you! Still can't give up on a fancy entrance, huh?"

The cloaked Navi didn't answer him.

Lei said nothing as she simply stared up at UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi.

Then, his red eyes met hers.

"I hope you're ready to lose, MegaMan." He declared with a confident voice, as he shifted his gaze back to his nemesis.

MegaMan cracked his knuckles.

"In your dreams!" He said, smiling, "Lan's gonna be a bit late since he's still in school, but unfortunately for you, he prepared me with some chip data this morning, so that shouldn't be a problem."

Bass smiled viciously.

"Hmph. We'll see about that." He said, as he flew above both Navis on the ground below him, until he was now floating in front of them.

MegaMan turned his attention to Lei.

"Stay back so you won't accidentally get hurt, okay? We'll fight far from you, but you could still see us, so don't worry." The blue Navi reassured her.

Lei nodded and smiled at him, then shifted her blue eyes to Bass, catching his gaze on her.

Both Navis just stared at each other for a few moments, not saying a word.

"Well.." Megaman suddenly said, grabbing the cloaked Navi's attention, "Should we get started?"

Bass kept silent as he simply smirked, then suddenly flew back and then into the air with high speed, MegaMan quickly jumping after him, causing a strong shock wave of power Lei wasn't expecting.

Her blue eyes went wide, as she raised her head from behind her arms.

They were.. Gone.

Confused, she looked all around her, trying to figure out what in the world just happened, when a loud explosion above suddenly caught her attention.

She lifted her eyes up to the source of it.

Both Navis were fighting with such speed, she could barely keep up with their movement.

She could see Bass was landing point blank attacks on MegaMan without stopping, forcing him to hold a defensive position.

"Wow.." Lei said as she could only stare at them in amazement.

 _'To think that NetNavi battles were_ _this intense..'_ She thought to herself.

 _'What's with him today?!'_ MegaMan thought to himself, blocking one hit after another, _'He's super fired up!"_ His eyes widened as he realized far too late that thought alone cost him with a punch to the face, knocking him a few feet back.

He rubbed his aching jaw as he glared at the cloaked Navi before him.

"Alright Bass! No more playing around." The blue Navi said with a confident smile as he lowered his right hand to his side.

 _"Electro Sword!"_ He yelled, as his right hand engulfed in a bright blue light, then shifted into a long blade.

Bass only smiled viciously as he suddenly charged forward, completely surprising him, and kicking him in the stomach, sending him crashing into the ground.

Lei went completely speechless at what was happening before her.

Her first instinct was to run up to MegaMan and see if he's okay, but she remembered this was _their_ fight, and that she was only there as a spectator.

She clenched her fists as she stared at him with a determined expression.

Suddenly, MegaMan rose from the rubble he had just crashed into, angrier than ever, then jumped back up to face the cloaked Navi, making Lei sigh with relief.

Now completely covered with dirt, MegaMan just stared at Bass with an annoyed expression for a few moments.

 _'Not_ _only is he a lot more eager than usual, his attack pattern is completely different.'_ He thought to himself, _'What's going on?'_

Then, he blinked.

"What's the matter, MegaMan? Don't tell me you're getting tired already." Bass said with a mocking tone, his vicious smile never leaving his face.

MegaMan said nothing, as he charged right at him and with a swift movement, slashed his blade sideways in the cloaked Navi's direction.

Bass quickly dodged that attack, using the opportunity to break his blade completely, and land another impossibly fast hit on him, sending him a few feet back.

"Your fighting style has changed Bass.. I don't remember you ever being this unexpected" The blue Navi said as he rubbed his aching face, his broken blade now shifting back into his hand.

Barely even letting him finish his sentence, Bass already charged at his nemesis with another set of frequent close range attacks, forcing MegaMan once again into a defensive position.

"Do you think you're the only one who trained since we last fought each other?" The cloaked Navi said between punches.

MegaMan smirked.

"Oh? Are you sure you're not just trying to _impress_ someone?!" He asked, smiling wide at him.

"What are you-"

Bass' eyes widened, as he suddenly stopped attacking all at once.

The blue Navi clenched his fist.

"You let down your guard-!"

Quickly taking advantage of Bass' hesitation while not even letting him finish his sentence, MegaMan put his whole strength into his fist and bashed the cloaked Navi's face so hard, he was sent spiraling down, crashing into the ground below them, creating a new small crater full of broken rubble.

MegaMan stayed in the air as he stared down for a few moments at where Bass had just crashed into.

"What do you know.. I guess there really is a first for everything!" He said to himself, and chuckled.

Lei gasped, as her blue eyes widened in shock.

"Bass..!" She whispered to herself, as she could only stare in disbelief.

* * *

 **A/N: Aaand Bass is down!**

 **I needed to make sure that MegaMan is actually capable of attacking without Lan, which going over the manga again, I was relieved to find that he is. (I'm not a Lan hater, I promise! He will join in on the fun soon enough. ;)  
**

 **Please review! :)**


	13. Voice

**~Chapter 13~**

* * *

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Lei clenched her fists as she stared, wide eyed, at the ground where Bass had just crashed into. He was buried so deep under the rubble, that she could only see parts of his cloak sticking out from between the rocks.

 _'He hasn't moved for a while now.. Is he okay?'_ Lei thought to herself as her shocked expression turned into a worried one.

She blinked as she ran the last few minutes through her mind again, making her brow furrow.

 _'He_ _was fighting_ _so fiercely too.. What on earth_ _made him stop attacking so suddenly?'_ She wondered to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by MegaMan's voice from above her;

"Come on, Bass! One hit and you're down?!" He yelled down, smiling.

Suddenly, the rocks which completely buried the cloaked Navi were pushed away with great force, his form rising slowly from under them.

Bass was now completely covered with dirt, and his expression was pure anger.

Lei smiled with relief, happy that he wasn't seriously hurt, yet she couldn't help but wonder if he was in pain after crashing into the ground like that.

Suddenly, he turned his gaze to her, causing her to blink with surprise.

Bass held it for a few moments, then blinked.

"Damn it." The cloaked Navi cursed to himself as he shifted his gaze back to MegaMan, his expression turning even angrier than before, and his red eyes emitting a death glare.

"Ohh.. He's pissed now." MegaMan said to himself as he raised a hand to his mouth and chuckled.

Bass clenched his fists as he charged up at his nemesis once again, causing the blue Navi to quickly raise his right arm at his direction.

 _"Mega Buster!"_ MegaMan shouted as his hand transformed into a large, blue canon, shooting several powerful energy orbs at his opponent.

Bass quickly dodged them all, as he raised both of his hands from underneath his cloak, charging them with dark energy.

"Why the hell would _I_ need to impress anyone?!" He yelled up at him as he unleashed a series of flying black energy wheels at his direction.

"I think you can answer that question yourself!" MegaMan answered him as he darted to the side, away from his attack and quickly charged down at Bass with a strong kick, only to have him block it.

Bass growled with anger as he quickly pulled back a few feet away from his nemesis.

"Don't test my patience, MegaMan!" The cloaked Navi yelled, his expression furious.

MegaMan only smirked at him.

 _'Good, that threw him off balance for now'_ He thought to himself, _'Can't believe he hasn't realized anything_ _himself yet, though.'_

Both Navis then charged at each other simultaneously, engaging in another set of quick close-ranged attacks.

Meanwhile on the ground, Lei lifted her hand up to her ear, then squinted her eyes in the direction of the two Navis above her. She could hear their voices, but unfortunately for her, they were too far away.

 _'They're really yelling up there.. I wish I could hear what they're saying.'_ She thought to herself, as she lowered her hand back at her side, and kept watching.

"You know, you better act before it's too late! She won't wait on you forever!" MegaMan said between hits, smiling wide.

Bass narrowed his eyes at him.

"I don't have any idea what you're even talking about, you fool!" The cloaked Navi growled back at him, dodging his punch.

 _'Why does his nonsense get to_ _me like this?!'_ Getting too distracted by his own thoughts, Bass was too slow to dodge MegaMan's next attack, which sent him flying back.

He raised his open palms as he lowered his glare at them.

 _'Shit!'_ He thought to himself, greeting his teeth, _'What the fuck is wrong with me?'_

MegaMan just stared at him with disbelief for a few moments.

This was the first time he had ever seen Bass.. Confused.

 _'Getting distracted like this for the second time! This is absolutely pathetic!'_ The cloaked Navi raised his glare to his nemesis.

 _'I can't fucking lose! I..'_

Then, he blinked.

 _'I just.. Don't want you to get hurt.'_

Bass' eyes widened as Lei's voice suddenly popped into his mind.

He said nothing for a few moments, then simply clenched his fists as his expression turned calm, causing MegaMan's eyes to widen.

"Prepare to lose, MegaMan." He said with a firm voice, his red eyes fixed on the Blue Navi in front of him.

MegaMan blinked.

 _'What's going on? He's completely_ _different than just a minute ago-!'_ He could barely even finish his thought, as Bass had already charged at him with high speed, landing several impossibly fast hits on his face and body.

Stopping himself mid-air, MegaMan held his stomach in pain as his eyes widened.

In a matter of seconds, Bass already shifted both of his hands into two busters, and fired at the blue Navi, catching him off guard and hitting his left arm.

MegaMan winced in pain as he quickly moved away and dodged the rest of Bass' attack.

Breathing hard, He stopped at a safe distance from the cloaked Navi.

 _'Damn! Cant believe I got hurt this fast..'_ He thought to himself as he held his damaged arm, _'I'm at a disadvantage now!'_

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"I hope I'm not too late for the party!" Suddenly, a voice was heard from above them, grabbing both of their attention.

A face of a young man with spiky, messy brown hair and a blue bandana quickly appeared on a big screen next to them.

Lei's blue eyes widened as she stared up at what was happening.

"Lan!" MegaMan called happily as his mouth broke into a huge smile.

The young man simply gazed at his Navi up and down for a few moments.

"Pfft- Really MegaMan?! You got hurt _already_?!" He asked with a loud voice, then broke into an even louder laugh.

MegaMan's expression quickly changed into an irritated one.

"What the-! You know I can't use 100% of my abilities without you! Not to mention you prepared me with some really basic chip data!" He yelled back as he stuck his tongue at his NetOP.

Lan gasped in utter shock.

"BASIC?! Those are CLASSICS! You take that back right now-!"

They both bantered for a few more moments, completely surprising the female Navi watching them from the ground.

 _'Is that really MegaMan's NetOP?'_ Lei thought to herself as she stared at them, her curious eyes fixed at the loud boy on the screen, _'He seems funny.'_ She smiled, then shifted her gaze to Bass, who was for some reason, already looking at her direction.

As their eyes met, Lei couldn't help but giggle at the thought of him simply waiting for MegaMan and his human to finish talking so they could continue their fight.

Bass quickly shifted his eyes away from her and back to the two fools in front of him, his expression turning angry.

"Enough!" He called with a firm voice, grabbing both of their attention.

"Oh, hey Bass! Long time no see." Lan said as he smiled wide at the cloaked Navi, which only made him narrow his eyes at the human boy.

"Lan Hikari." He answered him.

The young man then lifted his hand to the screen, revealing a small chip between his index and middle fingers.

"Alright MegaMan, I'm gonna fix you up with this health chip now" He said to his NetNavi, as he slid the chip into his PET, causing MegaMan's damaged arm to be quickly engulfed in a bright blue beam of light.

"Thanks." The blue Navi said as he tried moving his now repaired hand.

Lan clenched his fist as his expression turned determined.

"Now, I think it's time for us to get serious! FULL SYNCHRO!" He yelled, as MegaMan's whole body suddenly started glowing.

Lei blinked.

"Full.. Synchro?" She repeated the words to herself, remembering the rumor about some NetNavis being able to completely fuse with their NetOPs.

Her blue eyes widened.

"Amazing..!" She said as she clenched her fists with excitement.

Bass simply smirked at the blue Navi.

Then, he vanished.

MegaMan's green eyes widened in surprise, as the cloaked Navi suddenly appeared behind him, kicking him with impossible speed, barely giving him any time to block it. Having no other choice, MegaMan quickly dodged his attack as his hand shifted once again into a big canon, firing multiple shots at him in return.

 _'He's the same as he was before, now!'_ The blue Navi thought to himself as he realized that Bass had disappeared once again.

His eyes widened in horror as he noticed far too late that the cloaked Navi was now above him.

Bass smirked as he punched MegaMan with great force, knocking him once again into the ground below them, creating another new small crater.

"Ouch.." The blue Navi said as he pushed a huge rock off of himself. The dust around him was so thick he could barely see anything past it.

 _'He's not the same as before, he's somehow even stronger.. '_ MegaMan thought to himself, staring up at the cloaked Navi's figure through the dirty air.

Then, he smiled.

Flying back up to Bass' eye level, MegaMan cracked his knuckles.

"How about we go ahead and take this fight to the next level?" He asked him as he watched the cloaked Navi closely.

Bass smiled viciously at his offer.

"Sounds good to me." He said.

MegaMan's whole body then glowed with a bright light as he clenched his fists, feeling a new surge of power run through his system.

 _"HUBSTYLE!"_ He cried, suddenly appearing much taller, parts of his helmet and body glowing with a brilliant bright green color.

His power was so incredibly strong, it was felt through the entire area.

 _'Is that.. MegaMan?!'_ Lei couldn't believe what she was seeing, as her lips parted at disbelief. She shifted her eyes to Bass, who seemed completely calm at what was going on before him, _'Will he.._ _Be okay?_ Worried, she bit her lip.

Bass broke into a loud, evil laugh.

"Good, MegaMan! you're getting serious." He said as his expression turned dark, "Now I can finish you off with no mercy."

Both Navis just stared at each other for a few moments.

Then, they vanished.

Lei blinked.

She looked in all possible direction, desperately trying to figure out where they could have disappeared to, but with no success.

Then, a strong gust of wind coming from her far left caught her attention.

Right there, she saw them both for a split second, and just like that, they vanished from her sight once again.

"What's happening?" Lei asked herself, Confused.

"Seems like they're moving too fast for an ordinary NetNavi to see." A sudden calm voice said.

Lei jumped with surprise as she turned around to the source of it.

Her eyes widened as she smiled.

"Serenade!" She called to him, as he floated closer.

The tall Navi smiled down kindly at her.

"Hello Lei, the delivery girl." He said.

Lei's expression turned serious as she stared up at him for a few moments, causing him to blink.

"What is it?" He asked her.

Her expression suddenly turned confused.

"I know I keep asking you this, but.. What are you doing here?"

Serenade simply chuckled at her words.

"I sensed some very powerful energy coming from this area, so I came to check it out." He said, "If I may ask, what are _you_ doing here, Lei?"

The female Navi went silent for a few moments.

"I'm.. watching their battle. Or at least trying to.." She said, as she shifted her blue eyes up, searching for somewhat of a hint at where they were.

Serenade watched her closely.

"Why would you do that? NetNavi battles could be dangerous, you know." He asked.

Lei shifted her gaze back to him.

"I know.. But I was worried, So I.. came along." She answered him, smiling softly.

Serenade said nothing as he stared down at Lei for a few moments.

"Worried for MegaMan?" He asked her.

Lei shifted her eyes away from him to stare at the distance.

"For Bass, actually.." She said quietly.

The tall Navi said nothing for a while as he simply watched her once again try to find the current location of both Navis. Still silent, he simply wore a soft smile on his face.

"I believe they'll slow down soon," He begun saying, "Maintaining this speed takes a lot of energy."

Lei turned her gaze back to him, only to find out that he was already gone.

Another sudden strong gust of wind then blew through the area, surprising her.

Her eyes widened as she noticed MegaMan and Bass were now above her, both Navis breathing hard. It took her a few seconds to notice MegaMan was not in his HubStyle form anymore, and that Bass' leg was slightly disintegrating, causing her brow to furrow.

"You didn't.. Turn into.. HubStyle yourself.." MegaMan said between breaths.

Bass simply smirked at him.

"I don't need your stupid ability.. To defeat you.." He answered him.

Suddenly, and just before both of them charged at each other for the last time, dozens of NetNavis began appearing from all around, and in each direction, completely surrounding them.

MegaMan and Bass simply stared wide eyed at what was going on before them.

Lei blinked.

She was suddenly filled with a very bad feeling she couldn't describe.

Shifting her eyes back to both Navis, Lei noticed Bass was staring intensely at her.

Her eyes dropped to his mouth as she noticed him telling her something.

"-Hide!-"

She nodded as she managed to figure out his words, and quickly hid behind the nearest pile of rocks she could find.

"Remember me, Bass?!" A voice was suddenly heard from behind them, making both Navis turn around.

Bass glared at the large, bulky metal Navi before him.

Hiding behind the pile of rocks, Lei could only stare quietly as her eyes widened.

 _'Is that.. The_ _gang leader of the NetNavis Bass was winning against the other day?'_ She thought to herself, as she raised a hand to her mouth.

* * *

 **A/N: Cliffhanger!**

 **Lan finally appears! And also Serenade because why not. :)  
**

 **Review please! :)**


	14. Hurt

**A/N: An actual early update? Holy crap! :o**

 **~Chapter 14~**

* * *

Completely silent, MegaMan and Bass simply stood still and glared at the large metal Navi in front of them as he moved forward, passing through the snickering members of his gang, all of them with clenched fists, weapons out, and murderous expressions, completely ready to attack any moment now, simply waiting for the order.

"I remember you, scum." Bass spat, as his expression turned angry.

Glaring at the gang leader in front of him, he grit his teeth behind his cloak.

Now was _not_ the time for this nonsense.

"Bass.. We need to finish this as quickly as possible. You know why." MegaMan whispered to him, his green eyes never leaving their now new enemy.

The cloaked Navi went silent for a few moments, then smirked.

" _'We'_? Don't make me laugh, MegaMan. Watch as I take all of these fools down by myself." He said, as he raised both of his hands out of his cloak, clenching his fists, "This will all end very soon."

MegaMan sighed deeply.

"Jeez, will you stop showing off already? Neither of us are at our full strength right now." The blue Navi explained, "I won't be surprised if these guys waited for us to tire each other out first before they decided to show up."

Suddenly, the large metal Navi broke into a loud laugh.

"That's exactly right, you punks!" He called, crossing his thick arms, "Let's see you go against all of us when you can barely even fight anymore!"

Bass' expression turned into a vicious smile.

"The more you talk, the more you piss me off!" He yelled, charging forward at the gang leader's direction, only to be jumped by three different NetNavis instead all at the same time.

With a quick blast of dark energy, all three Navis screamed with terror as they went down in deletion, but only to be suddenly replaced by four more attackers.

"And there he goes-" Barely letting MegaMan finish his sentence, three Navis already fired several energy shots at him. He simply shrugged as his hand turned into a large blade, blocking their attack and sending one of his own at their direction, hitting them successfully.

Lei's grip on the rocks she was hiding behind tightened as she watched everything from below.

This wasn't a fight on equal terms between two enemies who respect each other anymore, this was just plain dirty. And she couldn't feel anymore helpless, just watching them like that from her safe hiding place.

Focusing her gaze on Bass, Lei noticed he was hitting enemy NetNavis non-stop; each time he finished with one group, the next one already charged at him, not leaving the cloaked Navi any time to rest, forcing him to use more powerful dark energy attacks which helped him eliminate a bigger amount of them. Unfortunately for him, the larger the attack was, the more energy he wasted, making him slightly more and more exhausted.

Yet he still kept fighting, never stopping for a single moment.

 _'Bass is actually giving his all in this..'_ MegaMan thought to himself as he took advantage of a spare second between hits to glance over at the cloaked Navi's direction, then shifted his gaze to Lei on the ground, who was watching the whole thing.

 _'Wow.'_ he thought to himself, smiling, then quickly hit another group of enemy Navis with his blade.

"What the hell..!" The large metal Navi called loudly, gritting his teeth, his eyes wide with horror as he watched Both Navis quickly take care of every single enemy sent in their way, until there were barely anymore left.

"How are you punks still this strong? What's going on?!" He yelled, his voice cracking.

Glaring at the last group of NetNavis in front of him, Bass simply smiled viciously, making them back away in fear.

"I think.. I'll go kill.. your damn leader now." He said between breaths, as he charged past them with high speed, causing some of them to plug out, flying fast at the large metal Navi's direction.

"S-stay away!" The gang leader cried in horror as he raised his buster in the cloaked Navis way and fired a powerful energy shot.

Bass dodged it quickly and easily, but suddenly stopped right in his place as his red eyes widened with realization. He turned around to where the energy shot was heading at, his expression turning grave.

"MOVE, LEI!" He yelled down at her direction, surprising everyone in the area.

Lei's blue eyes widened as she quickly flew to the side, away from the hit, but the range of the blast was too much, and she wasn't far enough to completely escape it.

The explosion was huge, its loud noise echoing through the entire area, as the whole air next to the ground completely filled with dust, making seeing through it almost impossible.

"Lei!" MegaMan yelled as he slashed the NetNavi he was fighting against.

Gritting his teeth, Bass turned completely around from the metal Navi and flew fast at the ground's direction, to where the attack had just hit.

"MegaMan!" He yelled at the blue Navi as he passed him, flying down.

"On it!" MegaMan answered him immediately as he quickly jumped to stand between him and the rest of the gang NetNavis still posing a threat.

Quickly landing on the ground, Bass made his way fast between the broken rubble and dusty air.

"Where are you..?!" He yelled, breathing hard.

Feeling a sudden surge of sharp and stinging pain go through her body, Lei winced as she looked down at the source of it, then slowly lifted herself up to sit against the rocky wall behind her.

"I'm.. here!" She answered him, coughing.

Moving a huge rock away from before him, Bass finally found the female Navi.

Breathing hard, he just stood there and stared at her for a moment, then stepped forward and knelt down beside her, his red eyes examining her whole figure, and his expression turning angry at the sight of her arm and leg, which were slightly dissolving.

Lei stared up at him for a few moments as his expression then turned into one which she had never seen him make before, and she found it incredibly hard to take her eyes off of his face, making her forget about her injury for a second.

She blinked at him.

"I'm okay.." She reassured him, smiling softly and trying her hardest to not let the stinging pain show on her face.

The cloaked Navi simply stared down at her for a few more moments.

"What the hell.. Are you smiling at.. Stupid..?" He asked between breaths, narrowing his red eyes at her.

The female Navi went silent.

Shifting her eyes to his body, Lei noticed Bass' left leg was damaged in several places and both of his arms were dissolving. He was seriously hurt himself.

Her brow furrowed.

"You're badly hurt, Bass.." She said, lifting her blue eyes back to his face, her expression turning worried.

The cloaked Navi kept silent for a while.

"This is nothing for me.." He said, still catching his breath, his red eyes fixed on her, "You need to get yourself.. Taken care of, idiot."

Lei said nothing for a few moments.

 _'If this small damage_ _hurts me this much, then he must be suffering from_ _serious pain..'_ She thought to herself, still staring up at him.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

Watching everything that was going on from above, MegaMan let out a loud sigh.

"Thank god.." He said as he could confirm that the female Navi was okay.

The gang leader narrowed his eyes at both Navis on the ground.

 _'That girl..'_ He thought to himself.

"Why are you guys after Bass?!" MegaMan asked, glaring at the large metal Navi in front of him, grabbing his attention.

He simply smirked in return, then plugged out, the remaining Navis quickly following him.

"Hey!" MegaMan yelled at them, but they were already gone.

Shifting his hand back, he lowered himself to the ground and stepped forward at both Navi's direction. He stopped as he noticed Lei's damaged arm and leg, his green eyes going wide.

"Lei, are you alright?!" He asked her, his expression worried.

The female Navi smiled at him.

"I'm fine!" She said, laughing at the situation.

Suddenly, a strange feeling took over her, it was as if her body had just become so extremely heavy, that even the thought of moving or even raising her arm seemed like an impossible task.

"I just need to.. rest for a while.." She stopped talking as her vision suddenly became blurry.

 _'What's happening..? I'm so.. Sleepy..'_ She thought to herself, as her eyes slowly fluttered shut.

* * *

Waking up, Lei's blue eyes narrowed as they met with the strong light coming from above her. Rising herself into a sitting position, she was surprised to see that her damaged arm and leg were now both completely fixed.

Chills ran down her spine as she remembered the stinging pain that she was feeling just a while ago, as she gently rubbed the places on her body that were now completely healed.

Then, she blinked.

 _'Bass..! did he get a treatment for his injuries too?'_ She thought to herself, her eyes going wide.

She raised her gaze to look at the room she was in. It was white and clean. She was sitting on a big bed and to her right was a small table with what she recognized as medical tools on it.

looking to her left, Her large blue eyes widened with surprise.

Next to her bed, on a single chair, was Dean sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped around himself.

Lei stared at her co-worker with confusion for a few minutes.

 _'What is Dean doing here..?'_ She thought to herself as she processed everything that has happened, making her swallow hard, _'Weren't we in the UnderNet just now..? How did I even get here..?'_ So many questions started popping up in her mind, that the only thing she could think of doing first was to wake him up.

Reaching out to her friend's arm, Lei gently shook it until he slowly opened his brown eyes.

"Dean... are you awake..?" She asked him softly, blinking at him.

The male Navi flinched as he realized he fell asleep, his brown eyes wide in surprise.

"Crap.. I nodded off, huh..?" He murmured to himself, rubbing his face, then raised his gaze to meet hers, "How are you doing?"

Lei smiled at him.

"I'm much better.. Perfect, actually." She said.

Then, her expression turned back into confusion.

"Um.. Dean?" She said, "Where am I?"

The male Navi stretched his arms.

"National Medical Center." He answered through a yawn, his expression suddenly turning serious, "They took care of your arm and leg."

Lei's blue eyes suddenly widened, and she kept silent for a few moments.

"You.. Saw?" She asked him.

Dean only stared at her for a few moments.

"They called me since I was the last person you talked to listed in your communication device. MegaMan told me everything, he was the one who carried you here." He said, crossing his arms at her.

He paused to watch her reaction for a bit, then he continued;

"Why didn't you tell me, Lei?" His voice was low, "Moreover.. You lied to me."

She bit her lip.

For him to find out this way was the last thing she could have ever wanted.

Shifting her blue eyes to her hands on her lap, Lei kept silent for a few more moments.

"I'm sorry." She almost whispered, her expression turning sad.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

Confused by the silence, Lei slowly lifted her eyes to her co-worker. He was staring at her with an expression she couldn't read.

"You don't trust me?" He suddenly asked her.

His words stung her even more than her injury.

"No.. Dean.. That's not it." She said, turning to sit in front of him on the edge of her bed, "I just.. Didn't want you to worry."

She didn't want to hurt him. This wasn't her intention or the reason she decided not to tell him..

The male Navi went silent.

 _'Why isn't he saying anything?'_ Lei thought to herself, clenching her fists even harder.

The atmosphere was getting heavy, and it was brutally quiet.

Shifting in his chair, Dean leaned forward at her direction, his elbows were now lying on top of each of his knees.

"Lei.. You could have died today. They explained that we're programmed differently than battle NetNavis, and that it takes us up about two times more energy to heal than them. That's why you were forced into sleep, even when your injuries weren't that grave." He said, his words echoing through the room, causing Lei's eyes to widen.

She just stared at him as he continued;

"Why on earth did you choose to complete this delivery?"

His question left her speechless for a few moments.

Even though she had already answered a similar one before when her boss asked her and still agreed with the reason, somehow inside she now felt that answer was only a part of something much bigger, a lot more complex.. a lot heavier. As if even trying to get it out of herself will send her back into forced sleep again.

But why?

Why couldn't she form it into simple words?

Suddenly, a memory of a blurry figure popped into her mind. Their voice was vague, unclear, and she couldn't understand what they were saying.

Her brow furrowed.

 _'What was that just now?'_ she thought to herself.

She then remembered Dean was still waiting for her answer.

"I.. Don't know." She said quietly, her expression turning into confusion. This was all she could manage at the moment.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Looking at the confused look she had on her face, Dean got up to his feet, and let out a big sigh.

"I guess dropping this on you right after you woke up was too much, sorry." He said as he smiled softly at her, "We'll talk about this later. For now I'm just glad you're okay."

Lei's expression turned sad.

"Dean, I really didn't mean to hurt you." She said, staring up at him.

She desperately wanted him to understand at least that fact.

After a moment of silence which seemed like forever, the male Navi suddenly moved forward, wrapping both of his arms around her in a tight hug.

Lei's blue eyes widened as she felt him squeeze her small frame.

His hug lasted for a few seconds, then he let go, backing away to stand next to the bed as he simply stared down at her.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

Turning to the door, Dean began stepping forward, then suddenly stopped halfway as he turned around to the surprised girl sitting on the bed behind him.

"They said you should stay here for a bit longer, so if you need anything, call me." And with that, he left the room, leaving the speechless female Navi still frozen in shock at what had just happened.

 _'What was that_ _..?'_ She thought to herself, as her mind tried to wrap around the events of the last few minutes.

Feeling like her head was in an overload of information, Lei crashed back onto the bed, her long brown hair flying everywhere and landing on her face, making it hard for her to breathe. She slowly moved it away, as her expression turned confused.

Then, she turned on her side.

 _'He's been acting so weird lately..'_ She thought to herself.

Lei blinked as she fixed her gaze on the chair her co-worker had just sat in. It looked like it has been sat on for a very long time.

Then, she got lost in thought.

* * *

 **A/N: Writing this one was a refreshing experience after having to elaborately describe non-stop fight scenes for the past two chapters.**

 **Poor Lei got hit, but it was necessary! Believe me :)  
**

 **Thank you guys so much for all of your reviews, Please continue to tell me what you think!  
**


	15. Attraction

**A/N: Ever wondered what happened after Lei passed out? Wonder no more :)**

 **~Chapter 15~**

* * *

Staring at the sky above him, Bass lay on his back in silence as he recalled the events that occurred only a few hours ago.

Even now, he felt like he couldn't ever hope to understand what the hell came over him to make him stop his fight and rush to that girl's side like that. It was as if at that particular moment, nothing else mattered to him but her safety. All he could think about was.. Her.

He raised his hand in the air and opened his palm at the sky, then stared at it for a few moments.

 _'Why..?'_ He thought to himself, narrowing his red eyes at the gesture.

Was it due to the fact that he was the one who told her to come? Because he knew she came for him after her unnecessary worrying?

Why was her existence even affecting him to such a degree in the first place?

Has he simply gone mad?

The whole thing made no sense to him.. And yet, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Bass blinked as he remembered his conversation with MegaMan right after their fight.

* * *

"..Lei? Lei!" MegaMan cried in panic, as he stepped closer and knelt a few feet before the girl on the ground, "She fainted.."

Bass said nothing as he watched her for a few moments, his red eyes examining her injuries.

Then, he lifted his glare to the blue Navi.

"Take her to recover." He commanded, his voice firm.

MegaMan went silent for a while as he just stared at him, Completely shocked at his words.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

"Bass.. Are you..?" MegaMan started, his green eyes going wide.

The cloaked Navi gritted his teeth, quickly cutting into his words.

"Shut up!" He hissed at him, clenching his fist with anger, "Did you fucking hear me? Take this girl with you and see that she gets taken care of. I don't want to hear another pathetic word out of you, fool."

MegaMan went completely silent, never breaking his sworn enemy's eye contact.

Even after thinking he could manage to somehow wrap his mind around this idea, seeing an actual live reaction like that wasn't anything he had ever expected, and it left him completely speechless for a few moments.

After finally regaining his cool, the blue Navi finally opened his mouth.

"Got it." He said, carefully lifting Lei in his arms, then slowly raising up to his feet.

 _'She's light..'_ he thought to himself, gazing down at the unconscious girl.

Bass stayed in his place for a few more moments as he watched his nemesis closely, then stood up as well.

MegaMan raised his eyes to him.

"I guess we'll settle our score some other time, then." He said with a confident smile.

Bass kept silent.

Turning around from the cloaked Navi, MegaMan started his journey back to NetCity's Medical Center, which fortunately for him, was located in a secluded part of it which was close to the UnderNet's entrance.

"Bass, just one last thing before we go.." MegaMan suddenly said, facing him once again and watching him closely, "I've known you for quite some time now, and I've never seen you fight or act the way you did today. I was honestly impressed.."

The cloaked Navi narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

The blue Navi simply smiled.

"When are you going to realize, you idiot!" He said, chuckling while shaking his head at him,"Think about it." His words were left to hover in the air behind him as he turned back to go on his way.

Bass stayed silent as he watched his nemesis quickly disappear into the distance using the rest of his flight chip's data.

* * *

 _'What the hell kind_ _of nonsense was that fool even talking about..?'_ The cloaked Navi thought to himself, annoyed, as he remembered MegaMan's last words to him.

He clenched his fist in the air, then lowered his hand back at his side.

Why did he even care this much?

Lifting himself into a sitting position, he fixed his red eyes on the distance for a few minutes.

"How stupid." He said to himself.

Then, he slowly rose to his feet, and flew away.

* * *

"Hmm.. It's already evening." Lei said to herself as she gazed out of her hospital room's large window.

Looking over her shoulder back into the empty room, she focused her blue eyes on the round glass window in her door, which was constantly featuring the passing heads of random medical Navis as they walked by her room to the next patient they were called to check on, their voices getting louder as they walked closer and closer, only to eventually fade out behind them into nothing.

She was just so... bored.

Shifting her blue eyes back to the window next to her, Lei slowly twisted the handle and pushed it wide open, letting some fresh air in. She breathed deeply as she stuck her head out of it and looked all around her. The room was pretty high above the ground, and she could see NetCity's bright lights in the distance.

"This Medical Center sure is far from the city.." She said to herself as she rested her head on both her hands, staring far, "This is the first time I've ever been here."

Then, she blinked.

After dropping her gaze once again to the ground below her, Lei quickly pulled her head back inside the room, and floated across it to peek through the small window in her door.

The corridor was now completely empty.

She smiled to herself as she floated back to the open window, landing on its frame and feeling the soft wind gently flow through her long hair.

"Just for a short while, nobody needs to know!" She said to herself, smiling, then she jumped out, floating down slowly to the ground below her, passing one floor after another.

Reaching the ground, Lei suddenly felt slightly dizzy.

She reached to the wall beside her for support, as she waited for the feeling to past.

 _'I guess I'm not at my full strength yet..'_ She thought to herself, looking down at her body, _'Alright.. Walking it is.'_

The female Navi quickly lowered her feet to the ground, then started walking forward. She wasn't sure where she was going, but this area was completely new to her, and that fact alone was more than a valid reason for her to go and check it out.

Besides, it was either this or staying in her room and getting bored to death.

After walking for a few minutes following an old looking path she found, Lei's blue eyes widened as she finally reached the end of it and could see where it was heading to. It was what seemed to be an old and a bit neglected small park behind the Medical Center building, with a broken, round, stone fountain in its middle which seemed to be out of order, and a few wooden benches surrounding it. The large trees had shed almost all of their leaves which now covered basically everything, and the whole area seemed like it had been completely forgotten.

"Wow.." Lei whispered to herself as she stepped forward to have a better glance at everything, leaving a visible trail of crushed leaves behind her.

Reaching the middle of the park, Lei looked up at the large, broken fountain in front of her.

She ran her right hand over the smooth, pale stone surface, gently sweeping aside the leaves which accumulated on it with time, then peeked inside, where water have once flowed.

It was completely dry now.

"I wish I could find a way to re-activate it." She said to herself, crossing her arms.

"It's broken, stupid." A familiar voice suddenly said.

Smiling to herself, Lei knew exactly who it was.

"Hi Bass." She said, turning to the cloaked Navi far behind her. Somehow, she had already gotten used to him surprising her like that.

He simply stared at her for a few moments, then stepped closer.

"How are your injuries?" He asked, stopping a few feet before her.

Lei smiled.

"Healed!" She said, excited, as she lifted two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him.

The cloaked Navi said nothing for a while, watching her closely.

"What about yours?" She asked him, as she lowered her hand back at her side. His cloak covered him completely, so she couldn't tell whether he still had them or not.

Bass smirked at her question.

"I already told you, this is nothing for me." He began saying, stepping closer to her, "And _I_ would have never fainted from something like _that._ "

Lei's blue eyes widened as she processed his words.

Was Bass teasing her just now?

She crossed her arms at him, then stepped closer as well.

"Well, sorry I'm not as strong as you." She said, jokingly narrowing her eyes at his direction, "Although, I suppose that if you did, then there would also be nobody else left to rescue me from random energy blasts, and that could be problematic."

Bass went completely silent as he buried the lower part of his face behind his cloak.

Lei simply giggled at his reaction, then lowered her hands back down at each of her sides.

"But really.. Thank you, Bass. You were really cool back there." She said, smiling her widest at him.

The cloaked Navi stared at the girl before him for a few moments.

"Too naive." He suddenly spat.

Lei raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can't thank you for saving my life?" She asked him.

Bass took another step forward. He was now right in front of her, his red eyes glaring down straight into her blue ones.

"Who do you think I am?" He asked her, his voice low.

Lei stared up at him for a few moments with a puzzled expression, trying to figure him out.

"You're Bass." She answered.

He gritted his teeth.

"That's not what I asked, and you know it." He said, irritated, "Why would I save you?"

Lei went quiet for a few minutes, her blue eyes never breaking contact with his fierce red ones.

"I don't know." She started, "But I meant my answer from before. You are who you are - You do whatever you want and your decisions always come from an honest place. You've been through a lot and suffered for so long that I don't think anybody can judge you for your actions until they've walked a mile in your shoes. You fight hard and you never give up. You're rude most of the time but also funny.. You're Bass."

The cloaked Navi kept silent as he stared down at her for the longest time.

Her answer was so unexpected, it left him completely speechless.

 _'What is this feeling?'_ He thought to himself.

It was as if a strong, invisible magnetic force was suddenly pulling him towards her. He tried to resist it, but he failed right away. It was simply too strong, and it was taking over him too fast.

His hand twitched.

 _'What is.. happening to me..?'_ He thought to himself as he gave in to the strong urge, and slowly started to lean down, closer and closer to her.

He wasn't sure where he was heading or what was going to happen, but for some reason, his red eyes were glued to her lips.

Confused, Lei just stared up at the cloaked Navi. His gaze was fixed on her, and his intense stare made her cheeks suddenly feel hot.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

"Lei! Where are you?!" A sudden loud yell was heard from somewhere above them, making both Navis jolt.

Lei quickly turned around to the source of it and figured someone was calling her from the open window she left in her room.

"Uh.. Sorry Bass, I have to go." She said, her mouth forming into a troubled smile.

The cloaked Navi stared down at her in silence for a few moments.

"Who is that fool?" He asked, glaring at the direction of the yelling.

Another yell was heard, this time even closer.

"My friend, probably. I was supposed to stay in my room but I kinda sneaked out.." She admitted, smiling sheepishly at him, "I'll see you later..! Thanks for coming to see me!"

With a swift movement, Lei turned around from the cloaked Navi and started flying back fast out of the park in the direction of her room, leaving him confused at what had just happened.

"How stupid." He said to himself, annoyed.

Flying fast and completely forgetting about taking it easy, Lei suddenly felt another strong surge of dizziness.

She stopped, quickly lowering herself to the ground below her.

"Oh crap.. I forgot..." She sighed to herself, grabbing her head.

"Lei! there you are!" A loud voice suddenly called from before her, making her jump.

"..Mea?" She asked, slowly raising her gaze to the source of it.

Floating in her place with both hands on her waist, was her tall, red-haired female friend and co-worker from the company.

"Hey! came to check on you after hearing what happened from Dean, never knew you could be this sneaky, though!" She said, breaking into a loud laugh.

Lei swallowed hard.

"I guess.. you know, then?" She asked, her expression turning worried.

Mea kept silent for a few moments, watching her closely.

Biting her lip, Lei just stared at the tall female Navi in front of her.

 _'What exactly did Dean tell her..?'_ She thought to herself.

Suddenly, Mea broke into a cheerful laugh.

"Hey! What's with that expression?!" She asked, crossing her arms, "I know everything but I'm not gonna scold you, so relax!"

Lei's expression turned confused.

"You're.. not?" She asked with a quiet voice.

The tall female Navi once again broke into a loud laugh.

"No, but we have _a lot_ of catching up to do!" She said, winking at her.

Lei said nothing as she simply stared up at her friend for a few moments.

* * *

 **A/N: Almost Bass.. almost. :)**

 **I want to thank you guys for 2,100 views on this fic! For me that's more than amazing and it sure makes writing this a lot more fun.  
**

 ***Neo. EXE - Haven't really thought about adding Medi into this, It could be funny indeed, but I'm not sure if I can write her character well.**

 **Hope you liked this chapter! Please review!**


	16. Reason

**~Chapter 16~**

* * *

"I don't suppose I need to tell you to actually physically stay and rest here this time, do I?" Mea asked, floating into the room through the window and letting the exhausted petite female Navi back down to her feet.

Lei shook her head.

"No.. Thanks for helping me inside, Mea." She said, smiling sheepishly at her tall friend.

Mea smiled wide.

"Good." She said, stretching her arms, then quickly sat down on the single chair in the room, "You're lucky that you're light! I wouldn't have managed to lift us both inside otherwise."

Lei simply giggled as she sat on her bed.

The corridor was still as silent as before, and it now felt as if they were the only two NetNavis still awake in the whole building.

"Well?" Mea suddenly asked, watching her closely.

Lei's expression turned slightly confused at her question.

The tall Navi broke into a cheerful laugh, then lifted her legs to rest on top of the small table near the bed.

"Start talking, girl! I wanna hear all about what made you want to continue this delivery in the first place!" Mea said with excitement, her green eyes wide and filled with interest.

Lei blinked at her friend.

 _'This question again..'_ She thought to herself, remembering her conversation with Dean.

"I'm sorry Mea.. I'm just not really sur-" She started, only to be immediately interrupted by the tall female Navi;

"Yeah, Yeah don't give me this 'I'm not sure' crap." Mea said, smiling wide, "I'm not Dean, Lei, I'm not gonna scold you, but I'm sure as hell gonna dig some answers out of you." She crossed her arms.

Lei's blue eyes widened.

She kept quiet for a few moments, then, her expression turned sad.

"You're right, I'm sorry.." She apologized, shifting her gaze to the ground, "I just.. I don't know how to say this.. How to explain the reason.. At first I thought it was only logical that I should finish this delivery as the one who started it.. but as time passed I realized this answer was getting more and more irrelevant.."

Mea watched her closely.

"Take your time, Lei. It's alright." She said, her voice reassuring.

Lei lifted her blue eyes back to her friend.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"I.." The petite Navi started, " _felt_ something.. On the first day."

Mea raised an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Lei breathed deep.

"Remember when I told you guys that MegaMan's message to Bass was just an invitation to a battle?" She asked, biting her lower lip.

Mea kept silent for a few seconds as she recalled their conversation a few days ago.

"Yeah. What about it?" She asked.

The petite female Navi smiled softly to herself.

"It wasn't.." She confessed, lowering her gaze to her hands resting on her lap, "Apparently MegaMan and Bass are actually somewhat of friends, and MegaMan was simply interested in Bass' well being after not hearing anything from him for such a long time."

Mea kept silent as she continued;

"When I first met Bass, I didn't think he was scary, just incredibly rude and stubborn.. But after he heard MegaMan's message he made an expression I would have never thought I'd see someone like him make. And I.. felt something; I was completely surprised, and also.. kind of.. Sad."

The tall female Navi stared at her for a few moments.

"Why did you feel sad?" She asked.

"I guess.. Because it made me realize that all it took for him to make that expression was someone asking him how he was doing.. That fact made me want to try and.. see more of him.. I think." Lei explained.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"What happened next?" Mea blinked at her.

"I asked the boss to continue with the delivery to its next destination, which was MegaMan.. Who told me about Bass' past.." Lei answered, breathing deep.

Mea's green eyes widened with confusion.

"His past..?" She asked.

Lei swallowed hard.

"Bass had a terrible past." She started, "When I delivered him his second message I was selfishly curious.. And I asked him to tell me more about it."

Mea simply stared at her with disbelief.

"And he told you?!" She asked, raising her voice.

Lei lifted her blue eyes to meet her friend's green ones and simply nodded.

Then, her expression turned sad again.

"I was just so.. Interested. I felt like I wanted to know more about him.. What makes him who he is.. What drives him.. What he believes in.. Everything. And eventually he agreed to tell me all about it.. About all he had been through. He tried to make it sound as if.. it didn't mean anything to him anymore.. But his expression when he told me.." She clenched her hands into fists, "It clearly still did.. And that suddenly made me realize that all _I_ did was just satisfy my own selfish desire to know what was literally none of my business. And still, I was glad that he shared it with me."

Mea's green eyes widened.

"Go on.." She said, waiting earnestly for the continuation of the story.

Lei went silent for a few moments, then grabbed her long, brown hair and moved all of it forward to lay against her chest as she gently brushed her fingers through it.

"I.." She almost whispered, shifting her blue eyes away from her friend, "Hugged him."

Somehow, meeting her friend's eyes was the last thing Lei wanted to do at that moment. But the piercing silence quickly taking over the room made it impossible to avoid it. She breathed deep as she slowly turned to look at the tall female Navi.

Mea was simply frozen in shock.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"You.." The tall female Navi finally managed to say, "You HUGGED Bass?!" Her voice reaching new heights as she yelled out her question.

Lei's blue eyes widened.

"Mea! Keep it down..!" She said, helplessly trying to make her friend somehow shut up, as she felt the blush spread in her face.

This was a hospital, after all.

The tall female Navi forced herself back into a normal tone again.

"Oops! Sorry!" She said, raising a hand to her mouth while still grinning like a mad woman, then took her feet down from the small table and sat closer to the petite Navi, who simply crossed her arms in return, "Lei, that's pretty damn dangerous..! And to think that he'd just let you do it.. Wow!"

Lei stared at her for a few moments, then lowered her hands back to her lap.

"I guess it sounds impossible.. But it happened.. And Bass didn't even try to hurt me.. On the contrary, after that he was nothing but nice to me." She explained.

Mea blinked at her words and went silent for a few more moments.

"So how _did_ you end up hurt?" She asked.

Lei sighed.

"Bass sees MegaMan as his sworn enemy.. Something about them settling a score between them.. And it just seemed so.. pointless. Especially after I've learned that fighting to survive is basically everything he knows.. " She said, breathing deep, "I felt like I didn't want him to suffer anymore.."

The tall female Navi watched her closely as she continued;

"So I told him that I didn't want him to get hurt." Lei lowered her gaze back to her hands, "After that, Bass told me I have no reason to worry about him.. but I simply couldn't agree with that. Then, he told me to come watch their battle to prove to me that he could take MegaMan down with no problem."

Mea kept silent for a while.

"And their battle was today?" She asked.

Still gazing at her hands, Lei simply nodded.

"They fought in a safe distance from me, though.. The reason I got hurt was because some bad guys interrupted the fight due to some grudge against Bass.. One of their shots accidentally almost hit me. It was Bass who yelled at me to move, and came to rescue me from under the wreckage." The petite Navi lifted her blue eyes to her friend, "He saved me."

Mea simply stared at her for a few moments in amazement.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

"Lei.. How do you feel about Bass?" She asked, leaning forward.

Lei's brow furrowed.

"How do I.. _feel_.. about him..?" Confused, She repeated her friend's words.

Mea sighed deeply.

"Lei, I don't know how to tell you this, but the Black Shadow of the UnderNet may be seriously in love with you." Mea said, crossing her arms at her friend, sitting on the bed before her.

Not sure she heard her friend right, Lei went completely silent for a good minute as she processed the tall female Navi's words.

Then, her blue eyes widened as her cheeks turned red and her expression to pure shock.

"..W..What?" She barely managed to say through her confusion.

Mea broke into a loud laugh at her reaction.

"Hahahaha! So cute! Oh my god!" She called, still laughing.

Lei was left frozen in a helpless mixture of confusion and embarrassment.

She blinked as she ran the tall female Navi's words through her mind once again.

 _'Bass..? In love with.. Me?'_ She thought to herself, feeling the hotness in her cheeks increase, _'That can't be.. Right..?'_

She raised her confused gaze to her friend, who was breathing hard due to laughing too much.

"What are you looking so confused for?! You honestly wanna tell me that option didn't even once cross your mind?" She asked, lifting her legs back to rest on top of the small table next to the bed.

Lei simply shook her head at her.

"We just get along..!" She said, cupping her flustered face in both of her small hands, realizing how red she must look like right now.

Mea smiled viciously.

"Pfft- Yeah, okay. Then answer me this – who did I hear you talking to before I found you sneaking out from your room earlier? Hmm?" She asked, her smile turning into a huge grin.

Wide eyed, Lei went completely silent.

Mea broke into a mad giggle.

"Honestly.. I already figured something was up when you came back after your first delivery to him." The tall female Navi started, grabbing Lei's attention, "Earlier that day, after you left with Dean, some guys in the company were talking about another messenger NetNavi who had to deliver to Bass a few years ago.. They said Bass didn't even agree to receive it, and that our poor guy ended up in a hospital. And then there's you – making him sign the freaking confirmation form on your first time.. No doubt he fancied you from the start, girl." She winked at her.

Lei simply stared at the tall female Navi for a few more moments.

She was left completely speechless.

Then, she blinked.

Suddenly feeling incredibly dizzy, Lei grabbed her head with her right hand.

 _'Oww.. Why? I_ _didn't even move this time..'_ She thought to herself.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Mea asked, her green eyes going wide at her friend's pained expression.

Lei lifted her gaze to her friend.

"Yeah.. Just dizzy.. I'm gonna lie down, I think." She said, quickly lowering herself onto the bed.

Mea stared at her for a few moments, then got up to her feet.

"Alright, I'm gonna leave you to rest for today then, sweetie." She said, floating to the door.

Lei smiled at her tall friend.

"Thanks, Mea. For everything." She said.

Mea simply smiled at her.

"No problem, I'll check up on you tomorrow." She answered, and with that, she left.

Lei let out a deep breath, as she carefully shifted herself to lie on her side, then fixed her blue eyes on the night sky showing through the now closed window in her room.

She was just so incredibly tired, Yet everything Mea said never ceased running through her head, keeping her mind busy.

 _'Am I..?'_ She thought to herself, feeling the blush once again start to form in her cheeks.

* * *

Floating through the quiet main hall in the first floor, Mea stopped as she noticed another NetNavi sitting by himself in one of the chairs before her.

She squinted her green eyes at his direction, then blinked in surprise as she finally recognized who it was.

"Dean..?" The tall female Navi called his name, then floated closer to him.

The male Navi turned to her.

"Hey Mea." He said, rising to his feet.

Mea's expression turned confused.

"What are you doing here, sitting all by yourself..? Did you come to visit-" She stopped talking as her eyes widened with realization, "Oh.. Crap." She swallowed hard.

Dean chuckled.

"It's okay, I heard a small part of it, then I decided to leave." He said, shifting his brown eyes to the big window in the hallway.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"Dean.. You should just tell her. That girl is as oblivious as they get." Mea suddenly said, breaking the silence.

The male Navi said nothing for a few moments as he shifted his gaze back to his co-worker.

Then, he sighed.

"I think I might just have to, now." He said, smiling helplessly at her.

Mea's expression turned confused.

"What do you mean..?" She asked.

Dean shifted his brown eyes away from her.

"That guy, Bass.. He's dangerous." He said, his expression serious, "I don't think Lei's safe around him."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that sure was a 'Heavy' chapter!**

 **The big reveal, finally! or at least one of them. Lei sure is clueless.. ;)**

 **Also, What is Dean planning?!  
**

 **As always, thank you for all your positive feedback! please keep reviewing this lil' thing so I'd know what you think!**


	17. Desire

**A/N: Late, I know, but an especially long chapter! :)**

 **~Chapter 17~**

* * *

It was Friday morning, and a certain blue NetNavi was making use of his spare time by training at his usual place; a secluded area not that much far from NetCity, but distant enough to occasionally grant him some peace and quiet.

After all, he was a CyberWorld-class celebrity, and the fans could be a little overwhelming sometimes.

"Morning, MegaMan!" A sudden cheerful, familiar voice called from somewhere above him, following the visual of a large screen appearing shortly after, displaying the smiling face of his NetOP.

"Hey Lan! Morning." MegaMan stopped his training for a moment and greeted back the boy.

"Just thought I'd check up on ya before I head to school, but I see you're already back to training, huh?" Lan asked, looking a bit surprised.

MegaMan chuckled.

"Oh Yeah, I'm perfectly fine!" He said, demonstrating a few punches in the air before his NetOP to prove his statement.

"You sure? Yesterday was a pretty tough match between you and Bass and then all those NetNavis.." The boy explained his worries to his partner, raising an eyebrow at him.

The blue Navi crossed his arms.

"Yeah, it sure was," He said, recalling the events of the previous day, "But trust me Lan, I think the faster I get back to training the better."

Lan smirked.

"Is it because Bass was strangely powerful yesterday?" He asked, grabbing his own chin.

MegaMan's green eyes widened in surprise at his NetOP.

"So you noticed too?" He asked, ignoring how well the boy could read into his reasons.

Lan crossed his arms.

"Of course I did. He fought in a completely different pattern than usual." He explained, "At least that's what I could catch before I passed out from over-exhausting myself like a total idiot."

MegaMan nodded.

"I realized that he holds much more potential than we thought, so I need to be prepared." He said with a determined expression, while clenching his fists.

Lan once again raised his hand to his chin.

"But what could possibly make him suddenly change like that?" He asked.

The blue Navi kept quiet for a few moments.

"Oh right, you didn't get a chance to.." He said, remembering Lan doesn't know anything yet, as he somehow managed to miss all of the parts involving Lei.

Lan raised an eyebrow at his NetNavi.

"What?" He asked with a confused expression, then his brown eyes drifted to the clock and widened in horror as he realized he was already late.

"Aww crap!, I gotta go MegaMan, just don't over-do it, okay? See you later!" The boy quickly said, and with that, disappeared from before the blue Navi.

MegaMan chuckled to himself, then quickly got back to his training, but his mind was now occupied with countless thoughts about yesterday's fight.

 _'I wonder if Lei's alright.. Maybe I should pay her a visit once I'm done here.'_

He blinked as his thought process shifted to Bass, causing him to stop for a moment.

"I wonder if he already did.." He said to himself.

Feeling a sudden chill run down his spine, MegaMan quickly turned around to the source of the familiar powerful energy.

"Speak of the devil." He said, smiling.

Bass was floating in the air above him, glaring down at the blue Navi in silence.

"MegaMan." He spat, slowly lowering himself down to his nemesis' level, until the soles of his shoes came in contact with the surface beneath them.

MegaMan crossed his arms.

"What are you doing here, Bass?" He asked him, his green eyes wide with confusion at the fact that Bass was venturing out of the UnderNet, which was something he rarely ever did.

The cloaked Navi kept quiet and simply glared at him for a few moments.

"If it's about a rematch, I'm still recovering.. And I can tell from your energy that you are as well, so.." The blue Navi explained, watching him closely.

Bass' expression turned annoyed.

"That's not why I'm here, you fool." He said, clenching his fists.

MegaMan shot him with another confused look.

Neither of them spoke for a solid minute.

"I want you to clarify what you meant." Bass suddenly said, breaking the silence.

The blue Navi raised an eyebrow at him.

"What I meant..? About what?" He asked, shifting his right hand to rest on his waist.

Bass glared at his nemesis.

"When you told me I need to 'realize'.. What did you mean?" He asked, lowering his face down until half of it was hidden behind his cloak.

MegaMan stared at the cloaked Navi for a few moments in silence.

This was just too odd. For Bass to come all this way just to ask him what he meant by that statement was just way over the top.

Was it bothering him this much?

Suddenly, the blue Navi blinked.

 _'This may be more serious than I_ _had first guessed.'_ He thought to himself.

"Bass.. I'm not gonna answer that for you." MegaMan said, his expression serious.

The cloaked Navi gritted his teeth in anger as he continued;

"But!" He said, lifting his index finger in the air, "I _am_ gonna ask you one question. And you don't have to even answer me."

Bass' brow furrowed.

"What kind of stupid game are you trying to play here, idiot?" He asked, feeling his patience quickly fading.

"No game, Bass! Just an honest question." The blue Navi promised.

Bass kept silent as he watched him closely.

"Get on with it." He demanded, his voice firm and his expression annoyed.

MegaMan smiled confidently.

"What is it that you want most right now?" The blue Navi asked.

The question hit Bass deep, and the image that popped into his mind was not of power, not of revenge against humanity, and it was not even him winning against MegaMan, his sworn enemy.

He took a step back, his red eyes going wide and his expression turning into that of pure confusion.

His brow furrowed as he swallowed hard.

"What the hell is this.." He said, understanding the meaning of what had just happened.

MegaMan chuckled.

"Well, looks like you finally have your answer." He said, watching him closely in amazement. To see Bass, the Black Shadow of the UnderNet, completely shocked like that was probably a once in a lifetime experience.

Bass snapped out of his confusion as his expression turned angrier than ever, his red eyes glaring daggers at his nemesis.

"You think this is fucking funny, huh?!" He yelled at him, gritting his teeth.

The mere fact that it seemed as if MegaMan had known this would happen long before he did caused Bass to feel utterly defeated.

"I don't think it's funny, Bass." The blue Navi answered him, "I think you should tell her."

"Shut up!" Bass suddenly yelled, "I was not programmed for this weak, sappy bullshit! I have survived by myself for all this time and avoided this kind of shit for a reason! I don't need this! So don't you dare tell me what to do, gnat!"

MegaMan's green eyes widened as he watched the cloaked Navi in silence. He finished yelling, now breathing hard, and his fists clenched tight. His expression was of anger mixed with confusion.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"Bass, get a hold of yourself." MegaMan suddenly said.

The cloaked Navi narrowed his red eyes at him.

"What the hell did you say?!" He growled.

MegaMan simply sighed.

"What are you, scared?!" He asked, suddenly raising his voice, "This isn't like you! When you want something you go and get it! What the hell are you doing?!"

Bass was left speechless at his nemesis' words for a few moments.

"What the fuck do _you_ know!" He yelled back at him.

MegaMan gritted his teeth.

"Enough to tell you that you're acting like a coward!" He shouted, "Go! You know this is what you want. And unless you're fine with losing Lei for someone else, you need to go and tell her!"

Bass' red eyes widened.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

The place which only a minute ago was filled with constant yelling that was probably heard for miles and miles, was now left in complete silence, as both Navis simply stood in their place and glared at each other.

Still completely silent, Bass suddenly turned away from his nemesis. Preparing to leave, He then turned his head back to look at him.

"MegaMan, I'm not like you. These things are not easy for me." He said, gritting his teeth.

MegaMan smiled.

"They're not easy for anyone, Bass. That's what makes them so satisfying." He replied.

The cloaked Navi said nothing for a few moments, then he turned his head back, and flew away.

MegaMan watched him as he disappeared into the distance.

"Good luck, Bass." He said to himself.

* * *

"Alright, seems like everything's fine." The female NetNavi nurse said, stepping away from Lei, who was lying on her bed. She then quickly shifted herself into a sitting position.

"Am I free to go?" She asked, staring at her with wide blue eyes.

The nurse chuckled.

"Patience, Dear, you must wait for your doctor to do the final check up. You came here in a pretty bad shape yesterday, you know." She explained.

Lei sighed heavily and flopped back into bed.

"Your final check-up will be this afternoon, so make sure to stay in here." The nurse ordered, then left the room.

Lei stared at her pale ceiling.

The corridor was once again loud with movement, and she found herself listening to the various cuts of conversations that started somewhere before and ended up far after her room, making it hard to even understand their topic.

 _'I want to get back to work already..'_ She thought to herself.

Suddenly, her door opened, making her rise once again into a sitting position.

"Hey, Lei!" A loud familiar tall female Navi called and floated inside, "Just met your nurse, she said everything's alright and you're just waiting for a final check-up! That's great."

Lei smiled wide at her friend.

"Yup!" She said happily, "Although I feel totally fine right now.. I wish I didn't have to wait so long.."

Mea raised an eyebrow at her.

"Lei, I think anyone could tell you haven't slept a wink." She said, crossing her arms.

Lei's blue eyes widened.

"Is it that painfully obvious?" She asked, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

Mea broke into a loud laugh.

"Unfortunately." She said, "So what happened? Was it because of yesterday's talk?" She asked, sitting herself on the end of the bed, next to her friend's feet.

Lei shifted her gaze to the ground and simply nodded.

"I couldn't stop thinking about everything you said.. And a few other subjects.." She admitted.

Mea smiled wide, then shifted both of her hands to rest on her waist.

"So! Did Dean happen to come by here today?" She suddenly asked.

Lei blinked at the sudden change of topic and stared at her friend in confusion.

"Uh, No.. I actually haven't seen him since-" She suddenly stopped talking as she remembered her last conversation with him.

She shifted her gaze to the ground, as her expression turned sad.

"What's wrong, Lei?" Mea asked, noticing the sudden abrupt silence and her friend's expression.

Lei lifted her blue eyes to meet the tall female Navi's green ones.

"I think Dean is still angry with me about keeping the delivery a secret from you guys.." She said with a quiet voice.

Mea broke into a sudden loud laugh, causing Lei to jump with surprise.

"Angry with you.. That's a good one." She barely managed to say through her laughter.

Lei shot her with a confused look.

"He's not?" She asked.

Mea sighed deeply, then shook her head in disbelief at the petite Navi.

"Tell you what, why don't you go and ask him for yourself?" She said, watching her closely, "He's at that deserted park behind the hospital, waiting for you."

Lei's blue eyes widened at her words.

"What?" She asked, feeling herself only get more and more confused as the time went by.

"You heard me, girl." The tall Navi said, "Go, he's waiting for you."

* * *

"This is the ugliest park I've ever seen." Dean complained to himself, sitting on one of the benches near the broken fountain.

He lifted his leg to rest on his knee as he looked all around him.

 _'Really.. Mea and her ideas, telling me to wait here while she gets Lei so I could properly talk with her..'_ He thought to himself, raising his head up, his brown eyes staring at the dead trees above him, _'But how am I even supposed to.. Tell her?'_

Only the thought about it made him incredibly nervous.

 _'Come on, relax. You've known her for years! This isn't_ _the time to chicken out.'_ He tried to calm himself down, but the more he thought about it the more anxious he got.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sudden flash of light above him.

Who he saw before him made chills run through his whole system, as he recognized his features from the stories.

It was Bass, UnderNet's most feared NetNavi.

Dean quickly got up to his feet as he stared at the cloaked NetNavi floating above him.

There was no point in asking him what he was doing here. It was already obvious. And it made Dean somehow undeniably angry.

Bass simply glared down at the male NetNavi below him in silence.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

Preparing to leave, Bass turned around, but suddenly stopped as he heard the male Navi's voice.

"You're him, aren't you?" Dean asked, his voice confident.

Bass said nothing and turned his head halfway to glare at the male Navi below him.

 _'That uniform..'_ Bass thought to himself, realizing the male Navi was wearing similar white and black uniform to those of Lei, only with red streaks instead of light blue, then his red eyes widened as he recalled the male Navi's face displaying on her communication device a few days ago.

He was that girl's friend.

Gritting his teeth at his silence, Dean clenched his hands into fists.

"I want you to stay away from Lei." He suddenly demanded, his expression serious.

Bass kept silent, as he turned back around to face him.

"What the hell did you just say, scum?" He spat, glaring down.

Taking a step back, Dean kept silent for a few moments, then he swallowed hard.

"You heard me!" He answered, "I'm her friend and I'm telling you to back the hell away!"

Bass gritted his teeth.

"If you don't want to die, fool, I suggest you keep quiet and stop telling me what to do." The cloaked Navi said, raising both of his hands from under his cloak.

Dean glared up at him.

 _'I can't_ _back down.. I don't want Lei to get hurt again.'_ He thought to himself, clenching his fists even tighter.

He took a deep breath, then opened his mouth;

"She's only feeling sorry for you, Bass."

His words were left to echo through the whole park, as neither of them said anything for the longest time. It was suddenly so silent, that they could hear the wind picking up through the dry leaves, gritting them softly against the dirty ground.

Bass processed the male Navi's words.

 _'Feeling.. Sorry.. for me?'_ He painfully ran them once again through his mind.

He didn't want to believe that, and he never wanted to admit it, but it made sense to him. It now all did.

Everything.

And this piece of shit NetNavi below him was the one he had to hear this from?

He suddenly felt impossibly angry. As if the anger was surging through his whole system. Quickly taking control of him, leaving no room for reason or logic.

And it was all this pathetic gnat's fault.

Bass gritted his teeth as he flew fast in Dean's direction, so fast that the male Navi didn't even manage to see him, until he was too close.

Reaching to Dean's neck, Bass held him firmly as he lifted him into the air, making him gasp in surprise and grab the cloaked Navi's hand with both of his own, but to no avail, as he was simply too strong.

"You.. Bastard.." Dean barely managed to say as he felt the hand grabbing him slowly tightening around his neck.

Bass' glare was murderous.

He didn't care.

How stupid he felt. Really. What the hell was he expecting?

He just didn't care anymore. Even if he saw her right now, he wouldn't-

"Bass! STOP!" A sudden yell was heard.

Bass quickly turned to the source of it.

Lei was flying fast in their direction, her blue eyes wide, her expression worried and her long, straight brown hair wild behind her.

Bass' red eyed widened as he recalled the first time they met. And he quickly let go of the male Navi, who crashed down to the ground before his feet.

Lei quickly reached both of them and landed on the floor beside her friend.

"Dean! Dean talk to me! Please!" She cried, holding him.

The male Navi coughed and grabbed his sore neck, slowly rising into a sitting position.

Lei lifted her confused gaze up to meet the cloaked Navi's menacing one, who simply glared down at her.

"Bass.. Why..?" She asked, her large blue eyes trying to figure him out.

Bass said nothing as he held her gaze for a few moments, then turned away from the both of them.

"You're only alive thanks to her, fool." He suddenly said, his voice low.

Then, He flew away from the place, leaving Lei more confused and sad than she had ever felt before in her life.


	18. Thoughts

**~Chapter 18~**

* * *

Still staring into the direction where Bass had just flew away in, Lei was lost in her thoughts.

 _'His eyes just now..'_ She thought to herself, her expression turning sad, _'They were so.. Distant.'_

Why?

What could have happened to make him attack Dean and just fly away with barely even looking at her like that?

She shifted her blue eyes down to look at her male friend.

Dean was still sitting on the ground next to her, slightly coughing while rubbing his aching neck, where Bass had just grabbed him.

"Dean.. Are you okay?" She asked him, her voice soft.

The male Navi lifted his brown eyes to her.

"Yeah.. Somehow.." He confirmed, his expression turning angry, "That asshole, how dare he?"

Lei stared at him in silence for a few moments.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting herself down on the ground beside him, but the male Navi kept silent for the longest time, shifting his gaze to stare at anything but the girl next to him.

Lei's expression turned confused.

"Dean.. Please tell me what happened between you and Bass." She pressed, moving a little closer and causing her friend to slightly jump in response.

The male Navi suddenly turned to look at her.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said, his expression unreadable, "What's going on between the two of you?"

His question caught Lei off guard, causing her to blink with surprise and keep quiet for a while.

 _'I told Mea..'_ She thought to herself, clenching her hands in her lap into fists, _'I guess It's time to tell Dean too.'_

She swallowed hard.

"I've gotten to know him.. and I.. Enjoy his company." She started, biting her lip at the discomfort she knew the next sentence would cause the male Navi, "He's really not that bad, Dean.. For him to attack you like that.. I just don't-"

But her words were suddenly interrupted by her friend;

"Lei! He's a killer!" He said, suddenly raising his voice, his expression turning angry, "You've heard the stories about him just like all of us! He only lives to fight and obtain more power, the dude doesn't know anything else! He's dangerous!"

Lei's brow furrowed at his words.

"That's not entirely true, Dean!" She protested, slightly raising her voice as well, "While I understand where you're coming from, there are things about him that stories don't tell. You can't always rely on rumors alone to form an opinion about someone!"

Dean gritted his teeth.

"He almost killed _me_ , Lei!" He yelled.

The female Navi went completely silent at his words, her expression turning sad as she shifted her blue eyes to the ground.

"That's why.. I asked you what happened." She said with a quiet voice, then raised her blue eyes back to him, "I can't believe he'll just attack you without any reason like that." Her voice turned confident at her last sentence. She refused to think otherwise.

 _'There's just no way.'_ She thought to herself.

Dean said nothing for a while and simply stared at the girl next to him.

Neither of them spoke for a solid minute.

"I told him to stay away from you."

Lei's blue eyes widened as she processed his words.

Her chest suddenly felt heavy, causing her brow to furrow at the unwanted sensation.

"Why would you do that..?" She asked, her expression turning confused.

Dean sighed heavily.

"I wanted to.. Protect you." He said, shifting his gaze away from her as his cheeks turned slightly red.

Lei's confusion only grew.

 _'..Protect me?'_ She ran his words again in her mind.

"Thank you, Dean, but I'm fine.. You really don't need to be so worried about me all the time." She explained, watching him closely.

The male Navi let out another heavy sigh, then with a swift movement turned at her direction.

"I _want_ to be worried about you!" He suddenly said, unintentionally raising his voice.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his sudden outburst.

The heavy silence made him realize what he had just blurted out, and his expression shifted into pure shock as his whole face turned as red as a tomato.

He quickly shifted his brown eyes away from her, only to eventually turn them back at her direction.

"I meant it." He confessed, making his voice as confident as he could at that moment, "I.. love you, Lei."

Neither of them spoke as the words were left to hover in the air.

Lei's expression was now a mixture of confusion and surprise, and she just stared at the male Navi, sitting on the ground before her; his face completely red, and his brown eyes fixed on her, desperately waiting for her answer.

To think that one of her best friends, who she knew for a few years already, would suddenly confess to her like that..

She suddenly blinked.

 _'Was this the reason he was acting so strange lately..?'_ She thought to herself, _'Did Mea know about this..?'_

Realizing what that meant, Lei started feeling the familiar prick of guilt she most certainly did not miss.

Snapping back into reality, she noticed the silence was getting too heavy, far too fast, and each passing second only seemed to make it worse.

She had to answer him. To say something.

But she found it hard to form the words.

Words that would surely hurt him.

Her expression turned sad as she hesitantly opened her mouth;

"I'm sorry, Dean." The harsh sentence finally escaped her lips, breaking the silence.

The male Navi continued staring at her for a few more moments, his expression slowly shifting into a defeated smile.

He sighed deeply as he looked away from his female friend.

"Yeah. I guess I saw this coming." He chuckled bitterly to himself.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Dean.." She said softly, grabbing back his attention.

He was important to her. No doubt about it. After all, they were good friends for such a long time, He was always there for her, and she felt like she could really trust him.

But those feelings were not 'Love'.

"Thank you for telling me.. " She said, smiling sadly at him, "I value our friendship, and I love our conversations together.. But I can't.. return your feelings."

She felt guilty.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

Both Navis sat and stared at each other for a few more moments, completely silent.

Then, Lei suddenly floated up to her feet, causing Dean's expression to turn confused at her actions.

"I have to go." She said, only confusing her friend further.

"To where?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lei smiled at him.

"To find Bass." She answered.

Dean stayed quiet as he just stared at her for a few moments.

"Do you love that guy?" The male Navi suddenly asked, watching her closely.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his sudden question.

"Why are you asking me this..?" Confused, she felt heat starting to radiate out of her cheeks.

Dean went quiet for a few moments.

"Lei.. I don't want you to get hurt" He said, his expression serious.

The female Navi only smiled her widest at him.

"I'll be fine! I promise." She said, "Don't worry."

And with that, she flew once again on her way to the UnderNet, to seek out the most fearsome NetNavi of them all.

 _'Bass.. Please be easy to find!'_ She thought to herself, picking up her speed.

* * *

Flying through the darkest depths of the UnderNet, Bass clenched his hands into fists as his expression turned irritated.

He was angry at himself.

For being so stupid, so trusting, so gullible, so wishy-washy.

He knew this was a bad idea from the start, so why the hell did he have to follow this stupid yearning?

This damned attachment he had grown for her..

How did he even let himself end up in this situation in the first place?

How did he somehow, without himself even noticing, formed a damn bond with that girl?!

"Pathetic..!" He said to himself, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists even harder.

But the saddest part, the most undeniably pitiful part that made him the angriest.. Was the fact that after all that had happened, after he was proven that he should just stop with everything involving this subject, and after how much he tried to terminate every useless notion he had left in him..

He just couldn't stop thinking about her.

A girl who's only feeling sorry for him due to his tragic past.

Why did he have to get so involved? This wasn't like him. After what happened with Cossack he should've known better than to open up this easily. Even MegaMan took long before he could earn his respect and trust.

Then why? What made him so.. taken with her?

That stupid delivery girl somehow managed to enter every part of his mind, everything reminding him of her.

And it was driving him crazy.

His brow furrowed as he stopped, then raised his hand out of his cloak and fired a powerful energy shot to the ground below him, causing a massive explosion which thundered through the whole area, completely destroying whatever was unfortunate enough to get caught in it.

He stared down at the remains and growled.

"Damn it." He cursed to himself, narrowing his red eyes, then continued flying.

He didn't even know where he was going, but he did know he had to keep moving.

To occupy himself with something.

Anything.

Just to keep himself from thinking about her.

Because these thoughts were nothing but poison.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review! :)**


	19. Importance

**A/N: Only a few more chapters to go, guys! :o  
**

 **~Chapter 19~**

* * *

"Dean!" Mea called and flew closer, causing the male Navi to shift his brown eyes to her.

Flying fast and landing right beside him, she stared down at him in silence for a few moments.

"What.. are you doing on the ground?" She asked, her expression turning confused.

The male Navi simply stared up at her for a while, then floated up to his feet while dusting his now dirty uniform with both of his hands.

"I'm guessing it didn't go so well..?" Mea asked, her mouth shifting into a troubled smile.

Dean sighed heavily.

"Nah, it didn't." He answered, smiling sadly at her.

Neither of them spoke.

Feeling bad for her friend, Mea reached her hand to him and patted the male Navi's back.

"Cheer up.." She said, "At least you told her, right?"

But her attempts to make him feel better only seemed to backfire, as the male Navi only slumped at her question.

"Yeah, she knows." He confirmed, his voice low.

She wouldn't ever admit it to her male friend, but Mea would have been extremely surprised to hear anything other than what he had just told her. She already noticed everything that was happening since long ago, but she also knew it was better for him to get it out of himself instead of forever holding it in; eventually ending up regretting not ever telling Lei about how he felt.

Her green eyes suddenly widened with realization.

"So.. where's Lei?" She asked, looking all around her.

Dean raised his brown eyes to the distance at where the petite female Navi had disappeared into.

"Went to find that _asshole._ " He answered, his expression turning irritated. "I tried to convince her against it but.. You know her."

Mea shifted her green eyes to the same direction as she kept silent.

 _'To the UnderNet..?'_ She thought to herself, her expression turning into a mixture of surprise and worry.

She simply smiled helplessly to herself.

 _'Really, my friends are so troublesome..'_ The tall female Navi jokingly thought, then sighed.

"Come on, Dean, Let's get outta here." She said, wrapping her arm around his shoulder, and smiling kindly at him.

* * *

Flying fast through the UnderNet, Lei's expression gradually turned more and more confused.

 _'Of all times to not be a part of the Communication System, Bass..!'_ She thought to herself, biting her lower lip.

The UnderNet was vast, and every part of it looked different to her.

Just where was she supposed to even find him?

The female Navi could only blindly venture deeper and deeper into the place, hoping luck would be on her side and would somehow help her cross paths with him.

The fact that she was basically putting herself at risk didn't bother her as much as not finding Bass and explaining everything to him as soon as possible.

Her expression turned determined as she clenched her fists.

There was no way she could let him spend another minute of his time being confused and sad over what happened, not after the whole 10 years he had already suffered by himself, being lonely, hurt, only left with unanswered and empty questions, eventually succumbing to hatred.

She didn't want him to absorb anymore negative feelings into himself. She had to find him.

She felt like this was a risk that she had to take.

In her mind, Lei went over all of the places where she got to meet him, realizing they were all completely random.

Except one.

Her blue eyes widened as she recalled the place where MegaMan and Bass fought each other, causing her to suddenly stop right in her tracks.

 _'Bass and I usually fought in a rather specific area.'_ MegaMan's words suddenly popped into her mind.

She blinked.

But will he even be there..?

Lei figured that was probably the best chance she had to find him, as she remembered the route MegaMan and her took just a few days ago.

She then floated up in the air, high enough for her to make out the familiar path.

Unfortunately for her, the specific area itself was still too far away for her to see, but she knew that for now, this was better than nothing.

 _'Oh, I better not attract too much attention to myself.'_ she suddenly remembered, quickly lowering herself to the ground below, then flying fast in the direction of the place in which both Navis previously battled.

* * *

"Hey.." Mea suddenly said, grabbing the male Navi's attention, "I've been wondering about it for a while now.. What happened to your neck?"

Both Navis were now sitting in the hospital lobby, as the patients and doctors ran all around them, dealing with their own problems.

Dean stayed silent for a few moments, watching his female friend closely.

"Bass attacked me." He said.

Mea's green eyes widened at his words. For a moment there, she thought she misheard him.

"What?!" She suddenly raised her voice, causing all of the nearest NetNavis in the room to shift their confused stares to the loud Navi.

Mea quickly covered her mouth and apologized to their surrounding, while Dean simply sighed.

"Idiot." He said, shaking his head at her.

The tall female Navi's expression turned serious as she moved closer to him.

 _"-What do you mean Bass attacked you-?!"_ She whispered, raising an eyebrow at him.

Dean sank into his chair.

"He came for her, so I told him to stay away, then he got pissed at me." He muttered, his expression turning angry at the memory of his little exchange with the Black Shadow of the UnderNet.

Mea blinked at her male friend in amazement.

"Damn! That's pretty brave of you, Dean." She said, watching him closely.

He sighed deeply.

"Yeah, also pretty stupid." He started, shifting his brown eyes to stare at the distance, "He charged at my throat as a response."

Mea kept silent for a few moments.

"Well, in retrospect, what did you expect him to do? Just agree and leave?" She asked him, her expression amused.

Dean shifted his eyes back to the tall female Navi and glared at her incredibly misplaced mocking tone.

"I didn't think about it I guess.. I just wanted to.. protect her." He said, then sighed once again, "But it seems Lei doesn't even _want_ to be protected."

His last sentence was left to hover in the air as both Navis went silent.

"Yeah.." Mea said, then sank into her chair as well.

"I had a feeling that.. something was different for a while now." he suddenly said, grabbing his friend's attention, as his expression turned sad, "But I guess that I just didn't want to accept it.."

Mea simply watched him in silence as he continued;

"Lei was always friendly, but kind of.. Distant. She could stand right next to me and talk to me, but I sometimes felt like her mind was trailing off to somewhere else. Like she wasn't with me 100%.. I always thought that's just the way she is.. but I've noticed she felt a lot.. _closer_ lately. Happier.. I don't know how to describe it.. As if she was finally _here."_

The tall female Navi smiled sadly at her friend.

"Yeah. I felt that too." She admitted.

Dean sighed.

"Well, now we both know why." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mea kept silent for a few moments, as her eyes shifted away from him.

 _'Lei.. Please be careful, girl.'_ She thought to herself.

* * *

"Ah! This is it!" Lei said to herself, as she recognized the long line of big piles of rocks before her.

She floated up to land on top of one of them, the entire familiar area spread before her once again, causing her blue eyes to widen at its incredible features.

 _'I don't think this place will ever cease to amaze me.'_ She thought to herself.

She looked all around her, desperately trying to locate Bass' figure as she floated forward and landed in the middle of the broken ground, the wind flying through her long ponytail.

Then, Her blue eyes shifted to where the energy blast had almost hit her, making her suddenly remember how Bass stopped his fight to come looking for her under the rubble, her expression turning sad at the memory.

 _'Bass..'_ She thought to herself, _'Just where are you..?'_

"So we meet again, huh, GIRL?!" A loud voice suddenly called from somewhere above her, startling and making her turn around in a sharp movement to look for its source.

Her blue eyes widened as she recognized who it belonged to.

A bulky, large, metal Navi was floating not far above her, his expression dark and his smile even darker.

Lei's expression turned worried as she backed away from him, only to be immediately grabbed by one of his gang members. He held both of her hands behind her back in a tight and painful grip, causing the petite female Navi to cry in surprise.

The metal Navi broke into a loud, evil laugh.

"Trying to run away so soon?! We're only getting started!" He yelled, floating down to her level, then shifting his glare to the Navi behind her, "Destroy her communication device so that she can't call for help."

The large NetNavi holding her grabbed both of her small hands in one of his huge ones, then used his free hand to reach into the pockets in her uniform mini-dress and quickly pulled the small device out of it, then crushed it right before her eyes, its pieces falling and scattering everywhere near her feet.

Suddenly, a few more NetNavis began appearing above her, making her jump with surprise.

"Ya see, Delivery girl, I've been watching your little trips in and out of the UnderNet for a while now." The gang leader started, moving closer to her face, causing Lei to close her eyes and back away as much as she could, "Seems like you're important to the Black Shadow, so now we'll wait for him to come save ya so I could have my revenge on that lil' punk!"

She opened her eyes.

 _'He's using me as bait..?'_ Her brow furrowed as she processed his words, _'For his revenge against Bass..?'_

Her expression turned sad.

She was just so tired of hearing about the importance of fighting against each other, revenge, destroying lives.. Really, what was the point in all of that except for never-ending suffering..?

She suddenly felt the NetNavi holding her tighten his grip around her wrists even more, causing her to wince in pain, breaking her out of her thoughts.

 _'Bass..!'_ She cried his name to herself.

"Let her go right now if you don't want your death to be slow and agonizing, scum!" A familiar firm voice yelled from above them, making all NetNavis turn in its direction.

Bass was furious. He looked as if he was ready to kill, and was only holding himself back from destroying each and every single Navi before him.

The gang leader broke into a loud laugh at the sight of him.

"Bass! How nice of ya to join us! I knew holding onto this lil' cutie would lure ya out of your hole!" He yelled.

The cloaked Navi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger, as his intense stare wandered to Lei.

She bit her lower lip as her expression turned worried.

He only held her gaze for a few seconds, then quickly averted his red eyes away from her, his glare turning murderous as he fixed it on the gang leader below him.


	20. Connection

**A/N: I had some spare time this weekend, so I bring you guys a super early update.  
**

 **~Chapter 20~**

* * *

"What's the matter, Bass?! You're awfully quiet!" The gang leader called up in his direction in a mocking tone.

The cloaked Navi said nothing for a few more moments, still glaring intently down at him.

"I'm not in the mood for your pathetic nonsense today, gnat!" He yelled, gritting his teeth and raising both of his arms from inside his cloak in a threatening gesture and gathering dark energy in both of his hands, "I said, let the delivery girl go."

But the gang leader simply smiled darkly at his demand.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Black Shadow!" He said, then broke into a loud laugh again, "And if you don't want her to get hurt, I suggest you-"

He suddenly stopped talking as he noticed Bass was gone.

Then, his eyes widened in terror, as the cloaked Navi suddenly appeared behind the NetNavi holding Lei. In a matter of seconds, Bass managed to transform his right hand into a large blade and slice the large NetNavi's head clean off, leaving all gang members around in a state of complete shock.

Losing her balance as the large hands grabbing her suddenly disintegrated, Lei fell to her knees. She processed what had just happened and turned her head to look up at the cloaked Navi behind her.

But Bass didn't return her gaze.

"Get out of here, you'll only distract me." He told her, his voice low but firm, and his red eyes fixed on his enemy. Then, he vanished from where he was to stand on the ground between her and the gang leader, who was still frozen in shock.

Lei said nothing as she turned her head to now stare at his back as he stood before her.

 _'He just saved me.. Again..'_ She thought to herself, her expression troubled.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?! Leave, now!" He suddenly yelled, breaking her out of her thoughts while making her flinch.

Lei quickly floated to her feet, then away from the place, fast.

She turned her head back and saw that in a matter of seconds, Bass was already fighting nearly every NetNavi present.

But something wasn't right.

She stopped as she turned fully around and hid behind the nearest pile of rocks.

Bass was fighting.. Different.. He was suddenly a lot slower than just a minute ago, as if..

Lei's blue eyes suddenly widened as his cloak moved to reveal his body.

His injuries from the fight with MegaMan, followed by these same gang members NetNavis haven't completely healed yet.

Her expression turned worried as she bit her lower lip.

 _'Bass.. I_ _cant leave.. I'm sorry. I_ _just can't.'_ She thought to herself, clenching her hands into fists.

She couldn't ever leave him behind. Not like that.. Not after knowing he's fighting while still recovering.

"You goddamn asshole!" The gang leader shouted, charging at him with a swift punch, only to miss him completely. Bass quickly took the opportunity and sliced the large, metal Navi's hand.

The leader yelled in pain as he crashed to the ground, holding his now quickly dissolving arm.

"Boss..!" The members all around them called in disbelief as they started charging at the cloaked Navi in anger.

Bass' expression turned dark.

"I'm through with this.. With all of you pieces of trash.. With everyone!" He yelled, then gathered a large amount of purple energy in both of his hands, and released dozens of dark energy wheels, successfully hitting nearly every NetNavi who came in his way, their bodies falling all around him, slowly dissolving into the air.

Bass landed in front of the leader still on the ground, his right hand shifting once again into a blade.

"It's time to spare the CyberWorld of your pathetic existence." He spat down at him, his red eyes showing no mercy. Then, with a swift movement he raised his arm and stabbed him, his scream fading with his body as he quickly dissolved into the air.

Still staring wide eyed at everything that was happening, Lei was in shock at how efficiently Bass dealt with the situation despite still suffering from his injuries. But her expression quickly shifted to a worried one as she watched the cloaked Navi suddenly drop to his knees, using his right hand to maintain his balance.

Bass wasn't in a good shape.

Realizing this fact, one of the few NetNavis who stayed behind suddenly charged at him, aiming his buster down at his direction.

Lei's blue eyes widened.

Painful memories of her own injuries suddenly shot through her mind. Her right leg and arm were already long healed, but the places where she got hit suddenly burned, reminding her of what it felt like to literally fade into nothing.

She knew that pain. And she knew she had to prevent it.

She just couldn't let him get hit by that shot.

Her body moved on it's own as she jumped out of her hiding place and flew fast in their direction, managing to successfully put herself between him and and the gang Navi in the air above him in time.

"STOP!" She yelled, looking up at the Navi holding his buster charged and ready, surprising him so much he held back his attack for a few moments.

Her blue eyes widened as she suddenly recognized who he was.

The NetNavi above her was the one Bass almost deleted when they first met. The one she urged to plug out so that he won't get hurt.

And she could tell from his expression that he remembered her as well.

"Move away, delivery girl!" He demanded, his buster still aimed at her direction, "I mean it!"

Lei's expression turned determined as her strong gaze didn't waver.

She won't ever move. Never.

Bass gritted his teeth as he suddenly rose to his feet and grabbed the female Navi's waist, easily throwing her over his left shoulder with a swift movement, making her cry in surprise and pure confusion as he used his left hand to hold her down firmly so that she won't move. He then quickly raised his free hand at the gang member in the air and fired a small, but fast energy shot at his direction, using this to distract him as he took the opportunity to fly away from the place fast, with Lei still in his grip.

"Bass! Put me down!" She cried upside down, her long hair falling down at his feet and both her arms trapped under his strong one as he held her fixed in place.

 _'What in the world is he thinking..?!'_ She thought to herself, utterly confused at his actions.

But the cloaked Navi didn't answer her, and only picked up his speed in an unknown direction, until he suddenly lowered himself to the ground at a rocky area Lei had never seen before, far from where they had just been.

As soon as the soles of his shoes came in contact with the ground below him, he quickly put the struggling girl back down at her feet.

Lifting her puzzled gaze to him, she opened her mouth to say something, but his expression made all of the words escape from her mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Bass suddenly yelled at her, causing Lei to step back a bit.

He was angry. Really, really angry.

He stepped closer to her, making her flinch, his red eyes glaring daggers, and his intense stare pinning her down.

She had never, ever seen him this angry before.

"Do you really think that I need _your_ help?" He asked with malice in his voice, his red eyes staring into her blue ones so intently, it made her shiver, "I am UnderNet's most feared NetNavi. I have won against and killed most fools who even dared to bother me, and I have suffered far worse injuries than that damned, pitiful attack that trash of a Navi was about to fire at me, and survived."

Lei said nothing and only stared up at him with a pained expression.

"I endured _hell_ alone and I'm still standing. Why the fuck did you think I would even need your help to begin with?!" His voice was loud and his expression furious.

She swallowed hard, then breathed deep.

"I'm sorry.. But I just couldn't let that hit you-" She didn't even manage to finish her sentence before he cut into her words;

"Are you a complete idiot? I already told you, that attack would have been nothing for me." He narrowed his eyes at her, "Or are you acting based on a different motive entirely?"

Lei's brow furrowed.

"What are you talking about..?" She asked.

He stepped even closer to her, causing her to retreat one last time, as her back hit against the rocky wall behind her.

She was trapped.

"Don't play dumb with me." He said, his voice low and his smile dark, "You're pitying me."

Lei's blue eyes widened at his words.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

 _'Pitying..?'_ She ran them through her mind again, _'..Why would_ _he even think that..?'_

Her expression turned sad.

"I'm not pitying you." She said with a soft, quiet voice, her pleading blue eyes fixed on him.

Bass gritted his teeth and growled, as his red eyes widened in anger.

"Then why?! Why did you do it? Why do you bother with me? Telling me you're 'curious' about me, trying to understand me, Getting close to me..! What is the purpose of all that you're doing?!"

He was so close now, she could feel his breath on her face.

"I was fine on my own! I didn't need all these useless thoughts.. This pathetic dependency.. this pitiful desire..! All turning me into a goddamn fool..!"

She kept quiet, not breaking his eye contact for even a second.

"Answer me!" He demanded, his voice was so loud he was practically yelling, and his intense red eyes boring into her.

Lei knew why.

She knew exactly why she bothered with him, why she couldn't get his expression out of her head, why she hugged him, why she worried for his sake, why she risked her life to save him.. And why he was simply so important to her.

The tension was impossibly thick, and Bass was standing so close, there was literally no other way out for her.

She blinked, still staring up at him, as she felt the blush quickly spread through her face.

Then, Lei finally opened her mouth;

"I love you-"

Barely even letting her finish her words, Bass quickly closed the small gap between them, crashing his mouth down onto hers, while wrapping both of his arms firmly around her waist and upper back.

Lei moved her hands up to his chest on both sides of his scarred Navi symbol, grabbing onto his cloak and gently burying her fingers into it, as she closed her eyes and returned his kiss.

It felt as if Bass was pouring his entire self into it - rough and forceful, yet incredibly passionate. As if he had just discovered something completely new that he couldn't get enough of. She could feel his strong grip tighten around her as he pulled her closer against him, forcing her to tilt her head so he could deepen the kiss even more. It made her dizzy and weak at her knees, yet she also felt something she had never did before;

As if they were now somehow finally connected.

Suddenly opening his eyes and realizing what he was doing, Bass abruptly broke the kiss and pulled away from Lei all at once, then quickly turned his back at her.

Catching her breath, The female Navi slowly opened her blue eyes as she stared at him with a puzzled expression.

"You need to go.." He suddenly said between breaths, still facing away from her, "Go back to NetCity.. and never come back here." His voice was firm and demanding.

Confused, Lei kept silent.

Why wasn't he looking at her..?

She slowly stepped forward until she was right behind him. She waited for him to turn around, yet the cloaked Navi still wouldn't look at her direction.

 _'What's with him?'_ She thought to herself as she desperately tried to get a clear look of his face.

Unfortunately for Lei, Bass quickly lifted both of his arms to cover it.

"Don't look at me!" He suddenly raised his voice, making her flinch with surprise.

Moving to stand right in front of the cloaked Navi, Lei simply stared up at him she noticed him tightening his arms around himself, leaving no spaces for her to see anything through them.

But the more he covered from her the more interested she got.

She couldn't ignore the strong urge. She didn't even want to. She _had_ to see his expression.

Moving her own arms up, Lei gently grabbed his large hands with both of her small ones and slowly lowered them to reveal his face.

Gritting his teeth down at her, Bass was completely red, and his expression was pure frustration at the discomfort of the situation he was in. Yet surprisingly, he didn't struggle.

Lei stared up at him for a few moments and blinked as she felt her own face quickly get equally flushed.

Neither of them spoke for the longest time.

Then, still without saying a word, she slowly moved Bass' arms away to hover at both of her sides, as she lifted her hands to gently cup his face in her palms, making him flinch at her touch.

"I love you, Bass." She whispered to him as she moved up, closing the small gap between them and kissing him again and again, soft and short kisses, one after the other, each making his knees weaker and weaker, causing him to step backwards, until eventually his legs completely gave up on him, making him fall down against the rocky wall behind him into a sitting position, causing the female Navi to lose her balance together with him.

Lei stopped as she moved back a bit, now sitting on the ground in front of him with her knees bent and legs to one side, her hands resting in her lap.

Breathing heavy and completely flushed red, both Navis simply stared at each other in silence for a good minute.

"Why.. Did you even.. Come here..?" He suddenly asked, still catching his breath.

Lei stared at him for a few moments.

"I wanted.. to see you.." She answered.

Bass narrowed his eyes at the girl sitting in front of him and took a few more moments to settle his breathing.

"Your pathetic friend told me to stay away from you." He said.

Lei went silent at his words for a while as her brow furrowed.

"Dean only meant well.. You didn't have to attack him." She said, crossing her arms at the cloaked Navi.

His mouth broke into a mocking smile.

"Hmph." He started, his expression turning displeased, "That fool was lucky that I didn't kill him."

The female Navi simply stared at him, her mouth forming a small pout.

She figured Bass probably wouldn't admit the fact that he may have gone overboard, and her expression softened.

"Besides," She started, lowering her hands back to rest on her lap, "There's no way I'd ever want to stop seeing you."

They only stared at each other for a few more moments.

Suddenly noticing it was already late, Lei reached for her communication device, only to be reminded that the small thing did not exist anymore, causing her hand to stop mid-way.

She blinked.

 _'Oh, right.'_ She thought to herself, remembering that she was now basically completely cut from anything and anyone.

Confused, Bass only stared at her actions in silence.

Noticing his expression, Lei smiled.

"Those guys just now destroyed my communication device, so it's just you and me now." She explained.

The cloaked Navi kept silent for a few more moments, then shifted his red eyes away from her.

"I'll take you back." He suddenly said.

Lei pondered his offer for a while.

 _'I haven't slept at all last night, and after everything_ _that's happened I'm_ _too tired to even move anymore..'_ She thought to herself.

"Maybe I'll just stay here with you for the night." She answered, causing his red eyes to widen and turn back at her direction all at once.

Lei giggled at his reaction.

"Would that be okay?" She asked, her large blue eyes fixed on him.

Bass quickly buried the lower part of his face behind his cloak.

 _'This girl will be the end of me..'_ He thought to himself, feeling the blush once again quickly cover his whole face.

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 **A/N: Fluff overload! ^^  
**

 **This is probably one of my favorite chapters, (For obvious reasons) but also because I just love writing angsty Bass, and big build ups in general, especially characters backed into a corner, making it impossible for them to get away without spilling the beans. *Evil laugh*  
**

 **Plus Bass totally obliterated some bad guys and that's always fun to write.**

 **Only 1 more chapter to go! Can't believe we're practically done with this story. (With 3,500 views I'm totally okay with it.)  
**

 **I hope you've enjoyed this chapter ;) Please review! ^^  
**


	21. Purpose

**A/N: Major fluff warning! :)**

 **~Chapter 21~**

 **FINAL**

* * *

It was already late, and both Navis knew too well that hanging around in the UnderNet at this hour meant nothing but trouble.

So they both floated to one of the highest rock formations they could find in the area, and quickly lowered themselves onto its surface before any other NetNavi could notice.

"Is this where you normally sleep..?" Lei asked, her large blue eyes examining the stiff looking ground below her.

The cloaked Navi stared at her for a few moments in silence.

"I don't have a specific place." He answered, shifting his red eyes to the distance, "I just find a quiet area where no fool would bother me."

Lei said nothing for a while, then sat herself down on the ground.

"I've never slept out in the open like this before." she suddenly admitted, her expression turning excited.

Bass simply stared down at the odd girl next to him for a few moments, then lowered himself down to a sitting position as well, not far from the female Navi.

"It's nothing special." He said, his red eyes fixed on her.

She shifted her gaze to the sky above them, then, lay down with a swift movement, both of her hands resting on her stomach as her long ponytail spread on the ground all around her.

"That can't be true." She started, her blue eyes fixed at the amazing colors above her, which consisted of black, some light-blue, and a faint yellow, "I mean, look at this!" She pointed up.

Bass' brow furrowed as he tried to make sense out of her reaction.

"I've already seen this countless times, stupid." He said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lei kept silent for a few moments.

Suddenly, she got up into a sitting position, then to her feet, and floated in Bass' direction, lowering herself right next to him. Expressionless, she stared at him for a few moments.

Confused, the cloaked Navi simply watched her actions in silence.

Then, she reached her hands to his chest on both sides of his Navi symbol and pinned him down to the ground with all her strength, surprising him so much his red eyes widened and his cheeks turned red at the sudden, unexpected closeness.

"What the hell are you doing..?" He protested up at her, yet Lei kept silent as she stared down at UnderNet's most fearsome NetNavi for a few seconds.

Smiling down playfully at him, she then quickly rolled to lay on the ground beside him.

"Look properly!" She said, fixing her gaze once again on the sky above them and smiling, "How can you not be impressed with this?"

Bass kept silent for a few moments, then shifted his gaze to the girl laying next to him.

He suddenly remembered she kept saying the same thing about various areas in the UnderNet before as well.

"I'm more interested in what you keep finding so 'amazing' about this place." He said, his red eyes fixed on her.

Lei turned back to face him and smiled wide.

"Well, you have to admit the UnderNet is beautiful." She said.

Bass was silent for a few moments, simply staring at her in disbelief.

 _'Beautiful? This place?'_ He pondered to himself.

"How is it beautiful?" He asked, watching her closely.

Trying to find the right words, Lei only stared at the cloaked Navi laying next to her for a few moments.

"I guess it's the fact that it's just so different that makes it beautiful." She started, shifting her blue eyes back to the sky, "I'm used to the city; to everything being exactly as it should be, always on time and never late, always the same and never changing.. "

Bass kept silent, as she continued;

"I love my friends and my job, don't get me wrong, the only time I actually feel free is when I do my deliveries," Lei admitted, wrapping her arms around herself, "But I realized that's nothing compared to what I feel when I visit this place. It's so big, so unexpected.. Nothing stays the same and nothing repeats itself.. To someone like me, that's just amazing."

Lei turned back at his direction and smiled softly.

"I'm really happy that this delivery was given to me." she said, her voice sincere.

Bass was speechless, and he only stared at her for a few more moments in silence.

He had never thought of life at NetCity that way before. If everything in his past hadn't happened to him, he probably would have ended up as something not very far from that. He would have probably kept finding and destroying pathetic bugs in the system, never getting a chance to test his actual abilities in battle and never knowing what he's really capable of.

Suddenly, it dawned on him.

What if just like her, he would have eventually ended up feeling.. Suffocated?

He was finally beginning to understand what she meant.

 _'How does this girl..'_ He thought to himself gazing at her, _'Always somehow finds a_ _way to_ _make me_ _realize these things about myself?'_

Lei didn't break his eye contact, and they both kept silent for a few more moments.

"I see." Bass eventually said, his voice quiet.

She smiled at him, then shifted to lay on her side, in his direction.

"Nobody knows of what I just told you.. For some reason.. I kept that a secret from everyone." She said, her expression suddenly turning sad, "I'm.. not a good friend."

Bass stayed silent as he shifted his red eyes away from her and raised his arm from inside his cloak to put it under his head for support.

"Neither am I." He said with a confident voice, causing Lei to stare at him for a few moments, then break into a light giggle.

"Thank you, Bass." She said, suddenly feeling extremely tired, as If she had literally just used every bit of energy left in her for today.

Noticing Lei was incredibly quiet, Bass turned his gaze back to her, only to realize the female Navi was already in deep sleep.

He took the opportunity and shifted to lay on his side, facing her as well, as he watched her sleeping figure in silence for a few moments.

He let his red eyes wander all over her features; from her long, brown hair now spread on the surface all around her, to her peaceful expression, long eyelashes, small nose, soft mouth, and eventually to her folded arms and small, gentle hands resting on the ground before her face.

 _'Really.. This girl is the exact opposite of me.'_ He thought to himself.

She was _so_ different, that she made him act in ways that he didn't even think were possible for him.

He blinked as he ran the events that occurred only an hour ago through his mind;

What the hell came over him? To suddenly grab her like that.. And do _that_.. To her..

He just lost himself completely after hearing those three words..

Feeling heat beginning to radiate out of his face, Bass stopped his staring and shifted his red eyes to the distance all at once in a desperate attempt to calm himself down.

Unfortunately for him, Still in deep sleep, Lei suddenly moved her left hand and gently slid it under his arm, grabbing onto his shoulder from behind, while moving closer to snuggle against his chest, causing the cloaked Navi's red eyes to widen in shock, and slightly freeze at her familiar, soft touch.

Processing what had just happened for a few moments, he breathed deep as he bit his lip and wrapped his free arm around her small figure, feeling her tighten her hold and nuzzle even closer to him in response, making him swallow hard and blush completely red.

 _'Even in her sleep this girl does whatever the hell she wants..!'_ He thought to himself, staring down at her in disbelief.

It was so quiet now, he could hear and feel her shallow breathing on his scarred chest.

"..Bass..." He suddenly heard his name escape the girl's lips in a small and soft voice.

The cloaked Navi blinked as he felt a surge of warmth spread through his whole body, causing him to let out a deep breath he didn't even know he was holding.

Then, he finally calmed down.

 _'To think that something like this would make me feel_ _so_ _content..'_

"How stupid.." He muttered to himself, letting his red eyes slowly close, until he felt himself drift into deep sleep as well.

* * *

Slowly opening her blue eyes, Lei's vision was filled with dark purple.

Confused, she blinked a few times, then looked all around her.

Her cheeks flushed red as she realized she was cuddled up against Bass' chest while holding onto his shoulder, his strong arm wrapped around her body and their legs slightly tangled together.

How.. Did they end up like this..?

She lifted her gaze to his face, her blue eyes widening with surprise.

Bass was sleeping soundly.

Lei kept staring at his face for a few more moments in complete silence.

This was the first time she had ever seen him this peaceful, and it was incredibly hard for her to take her eyes off his calm expression.

 _'So cute.'_ She thought to herself, smiling softly up at him.

She released her grip on his shoulder, and carefully slid her hand back from under his arm to rest at her side, then moved it up in the direction of the cloaked Navi's face, stopping a few inches from it.

The female Navi bit her lower lip, as her fingers gently traced one of the purple streaks fused with his skin. She always wanted to do this.

Bass flinched at her sudden touch, then quickly grabbed her wrist, as he slowly opened his red eyes to look at her.

"Morning." Lei said with a soft voice, smiling up at him.

The cloaked Navi stared with half lidded eyes at the girl laying against him for a few moments, neither of them saying a word.

"Don't pet me." He said, releasing her hand and slowly rising into a sitting position, with Lei following quickly after him.

"Why not?" She asked, confused by his reaction.

Bass stayed silent for a few moments as he felt the blush spread through his face.

"I'm not used to any of this.. It makes me feel.. Strange." He said, his red eyes fixed on anywhere but the female Navi sitting next to him.

Lei only stared at him for a few moments.

"You don't like it when I touch you?" She asked, her large blue eyes trying to figure him out.

Bass gritted his teeth and faced away from her completely.

"I like it too much, stupid. I don't know what to do.." He muttered, irritated, as his face turned as red as a tomato.

Lei felt her own cheeks get flushed at his words, as she kept silent.

Neither of them spoke for a few more moments.

"I'll take you back now." He suddenly said, finally turning to look at her, his face buried behind his cloak, leaving only his red eyes visible.

Lei blinked, then simply nodded.

 _'Yeah.. I guess it's_ _time..'_ She thought to herself.

Then, both Navis floated to their feet.

"Follow me and stay close." He said, his voice demanding, then flew away from the place with Lei right behind him.

Surprisingly, the place in which both of them spent the night at wasn't as far from NetCity as the area in which Bass fought the gang NetNavis, yet the extreme silence made the way somehow seem longer.

 _'Why is he so quiet..?'_ Lei thought to herself, confused.

Bass' gaze was fixed at their destination, his hands clenched into fists and his cloak fluttering in the wind.

He didn't look at Lei even once.

After what seemed like forever, both of them reached the entrance to NetCity. They Lowered themselves to the ground below them, as they both remained silent for a few more moments.

Now staring at his back as he stood before her, Lei still couldn't understand his unexplained coldness.

 _'Was it something I said..?'_ she wondered to herself.

Suddenly, Bass turned around at her direction.

"Lei." he called her name, his expression unreadable.

The female Navi kept staring at him as he continued;

"I need you to close your eyes and stay very still." He said, his voice firm and his red eyes fixed on her.

Lei kept silent for a few more moments.

"What..?" She asked, her expression confused.

Gritting his teeth, Bass stepped closer to her.

"Close your eyes already." He demanded, his face turning red.

Lei's blue eyes widened at his sudden closeness, then she quickly did as he asked her, and closed them shut.

It was quiet.

 _'What is he doing..? And why is it taking so long..?'_ She thought to herself, feeling her patience quickly fading.

Suddenly, she felt both of his large hands cup her face, making her jump with surprise.

Slowly, she opened one eye to peek at what was going on.

Bass was incredibly close, his face completely red and his red eyes opening wide at the fact that she didn't listen to him.

Lei's blue eyes shot open as her face turned completely red as well, and her expression into pure confusion.

"What did I tell you, stupid!" He said and growled, his expression frustrated at the girl in front of him.

"I'm sorry!" She called, quickly closing her blue eyes once again, "But what are you doing?!"

Bass gritted his teeth, then breathed deep.

"Yesterday I completely lost myself, okay?" He said, irritated, "I wanted to.. Remember."

His words caught her off guard.

"You want to.. Kiss me?" She asked, her blue eyes still closed.

 _'Is this the reason he was so quiet..? Was this.. bothering him..?'_ She thought to herself.

Bass kept silent for the longest time.

"Don't open your eyes under any circumstances, got it?" He demanded, his hands still cupping her face.

Lei felt the blush spread through her whole face.

"...Okay." She confirmed.

Silence, again.

Then, Lei suddenly felt his mouth press against hers.

Bass' kiss before felt like he was lost in his anger; it was forceful, hurried, rough, like a surge of emotions that he held up inside for too long and couldn't keep under control anymore.

But now it was completely different;

His kiss was calm, slow, as if he was savoring every second of it. Almost as if he was apologizing for the way he acted.

Was he really capable of being this gentle?

She moved her hands up and tugged on his cloak, kissing him back as gently as she could, causing him to move one of his large hands down to her waist as he pulled her closer against him with a swift movement, making her gasp in surprise and pull back from him for a moment, only for his mouth to quickly capture hers once again in another series of sweet kisses.

Somehow, this one felt far more intimate than yesterday's.

After a few more moments, they stopped, then moved away while slowly opening their eyes to look at each others flustered faces.

"I can't believe I'm doing this sort of thing.." Bass said with a low voice, quickly releasing his grip on her body and putting his hands back under his cloak.

Lei simply giggled at him.

"It's okay, you're good at it." She said, smiling playfully up at him.

The cloaked Navi's face turned bright red.

"Shut up." He said.

Shifting her blue eyes up to look at the entrance to NetCity, Lei's expression turned slightly sad. She then shifted her gaze back to stare at Bass.

"Promise me you'll stay out of trouble, okay?" She asked, watching him closely.

The cloaked Navi simply stared down at her for a few more moments.

"Again with your unnecessary worrying." He answered her, his mouth breaking into a mocking smile.

Lei crossed her arms at him.

"Bass.. Promise me, please." She pleaded, Her large blue eyes fixed on him, and her expression sincere.

He said nothing for a while, not breaking her eye contact.

Bass won't ever admit it to her, but Lei's genuine worry for his sake made him feel incredibly.. Needed, loved, missed. For a NetNavi who lived only to fight, constantly putting his life on the line without caring about dying as long as it was against a strong and worthy opponent, it was a refreshing change that the cloaked Navi didn't even know he needed, that he somehow forgot about during his almost 11 years of solitude.

It somehow gave his existence a much deeper meaning; As if he now had a new purpose.

"I'll try." He said, shifting his red eyes away from her.

Lei smiled wide at his words.

"I guess I'll be off, then." She said, making him turn his gaze back to her.

"Yeah." Bass answered, watching her closely.

The female Navi then floated up in NetCity direction, only to stop midway and turn her head at the cloaked Navi's direction below her.

"Come visit me sometime! I'll show you my house!" She yelled down at him, smiling wide and waving.

Bass narrowed his eyes up at her.

"Just make sure you don't get lost on your way there, stupid!" He yelled back, smiling viciously up at her.

Lei's expression turned into pure shock.

"That was _one_ time!" She answered him, clenching her hands into fists.

Bass broke into a loud laugh.

"Sure." He teased.

Lei playfully stuck her tongue down at him, then, with a swift movement turned back on her way, her long, thick ponytail flying behind her.

Bass simply watched as the female Navi completely disappeared into the distance. Then, he turned on his heel and flew away in the opposite direction, deeper into the UnderNet.

END

* * *

 **A/N: It's over! *Throws confetti***

 **Holy crap where do I start?**

 **First of all - Thank you guys so much for supporting my first ever fic, this started as an idea I got stuck in my head after reading the manga and thinking "Aw, Bass needs a happy ending too." Then it developed as the story progressed over the course of like 3-4 months, and I gotta admit, became more serious than I expected it to be. (The genres are also changed to Humor/Romance now.)**

 **I gotta say it was hard as hell to keep myself on the wagon with real life responsibilities and whatnot, but it was super important to me to finish this thing and maintain somewhat of a fixed schedule.**

 **Someday, I'm gonna re-write some of the earlier chapters because in my eyes they're kinda horrendous, and in an extreme need of a renovation.**

 **Once again, thank you! I wouldn't have felt so inspired to keep writing this if it wasn't for all of you guys' positive feedback;**

 **Ai Star, Misfortuned Checkmate, cottoncandyeyes, Nerdy Appulz, Neo .ExE** **, Orange juice, 1010, Ren7720, raxii, Vinjago, dragonsofthe8elemnts, exelsiorsaga, Valinar, Call, thatnerdwhoreads, animeflunky, Ghost501, the janiter, Skylar, yas bby, tinytoon78, Esther, AlloyMaverick and Guests!**

 **THANK YOU! ^^**

 **Also some answers:**

 **Ai Star - Hahaha xD, she probably would, someday x)**

 **Nerdy Appulz - Good question, I imagine her voice to be really girly and soft but not too high, more clear sounding than anything. When she explains things about her job she gets unnecessarily excited.**

 **Neo .ExE - *Evil laugh* Then you're gonna love this one. ^^  
**

 **Please review for the very last time guys! :')**


	22. -Extra-

**A/N: Extra chapter of goodness!**

 **I've decided to make use of all the remaining different ideas which I didn't have room for/scrapped from the story due to irrelevance/completely forgot about and bring them all to you guys in the form of short one-shots :)**

 **Also, LEI ARTWORK! By my amazing friend, Louise! (Link in my profile, go check it out!)**

 **This is pretty much how I pictured her, Thank you so much!**

 **~Extra~**

* * *

 **Final Check-Up**

"I hope Lei's not sleeping yet." MegaMan said to himself, walking outside the Medical Center.

He stopped in his tracks to stare up at the large building before him for a few moments.

 _'It sure has been long since I've last visited_ _here.. I wonder if Meddi's still-'_ He wondered to himself, his expression quickly turning to a worried one as he recalled Roll forbade him to talk with that girl ever again, _'Or maybe I should just stick to my original plan..'_ He sighed deeply.

Entering the building, his green eyes quickly recognized Dean sitting with another tall female NetNavi he didn't know.

"Oh! Hello." He smiled and waved at him, stepping closer.

Dean's expression turned surprised.

"MegaMan!" He called his name and stood up, "What are you doing here?"

MegaMan greeted the female Navi still sitting and turned his gaze back to him.

"I came to see if Lei's alright.. Is this a bad time?" He asked, his expression turning troubled.

Dean exchanged looks with Mea for a few moments.

"Uh.. She's not here actually.." The male Navi explained, then broke into a nervous laugh.

MegaMan's expression turned confused.

"Oh, did she get discharged already?" He asked, wondering what both of them were still doing here, if that was the case.

Dean sighed deeply.

"Not exactly.." He answered him, rubbing the back of his neck, only confusing the blue Navi further.

Mea broke into a sudden, mad, uncontrollable giggle, as Dean only glared down at her.

"Excuse me." A sudden voice called from behind them, making all three turn in its direction.

It was Lei's doctor.

"You're friends with Lei, the delivery girl who came here yesterday, I assume?" He asked them, fixing his glasses.

"Yes, we are." Dean answered him.

"Her final check-up was supposed to be now, yet she isn't in her room. Do you know why that is?" He asked, making both delivery Navis' expressions turn troubled, as they looked at each other with wide eyes, realizing they had completely forgot all about it.

Neither of them said a word.

"What's going on..?" MegaMan asked, confused as ever.

* * *

 **Bites And Kisses**

Staring at the cloaked Navi sitting next to her, Lei kept silent.

Then, she reached her hand and gently tugged on his cloak, making him turn his red eyes at her direction, his expression confused.

"What is it?" He asked, staring down at her.

Lei lifted her blue eyes to meet his red ones.

"Are you ever going to take this thing off?" She asked him.

Bass kept silent for a few moments, his brow furrowing at her odd question.

"Of course not." He said, his voice firm, "This cloak had been with me for this entire time."

Lei's gaze was fixed on him.

"Is it important to you?" She asked him, her expression turning interested.

Bass pondered her question for a while.

Granted, this was just a silly cloak, but why couldn't he suddenly perceive himself without it?

"Why do you always ask such trivial questions?" He asked her, narrowing his red eyes at her direction.

Lei only smiled playfully up at him.

"Because I want them answered."

Bass simply stared down at her in silence for a few moments.

"That's hardly a reason." He said.

The female Navi raised an eyebrow at him.

"Says you!" She said, raising her index finger to poke his cheek, making his red eyes widen in surprise.

He quickly grabbed her wrist, narrowing his eyes down at her direction.

Neither of them said anything as they just stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

Then, the cloaked Navi raised her hand to his mouth, and gently bit her index finger.

Confused, Lei felt the blush quickly spread through her face.

"Ow, What was that for?" She asked him.

Bass released her hand and shifted his eyes to the distance.

"I just felt like it." He said, smirking.

Lei's mouth formed a small pout, as she grabbed his large hand with both her small ones, making him flinch at her touch as he shifted his surprised gaze back to her.

She quickly lifted it up as well.

"What are you-" Bass tried protesting, only to choke on his own words as she kissed his palm softly, causing his red eyes to widen and the blush to cover his entire face all at once.

She only giggled at his reaction.

* * *

 **Girlfriend**

"No. Freaking. Way." A human boy said, his expression pure shock.

"Lan, I swear, okay?" MegaMan said, smiling, "But you gotta pull yourself together once she gets here, alright? Don't be weird."

The human boy broke into a fake loud laugh, then stopped all at once.

"Are you kidding me right now, MegaMan?! How can I relax after hearing Bass has a girlfriend?! Who actually loves him back?!" He asked, shaking his head in disbelief, "She probably looks like a man!"

MegaMan sighed deeply.

"Lan! She's normal..! Look, she's gonna be here any moment now so just calm yourself down already, you big baby!" He called up at him.

"What the hell did ya call me..!" Lan asked, pressing his angry face against the monitor.

"MegaMan!" A sudden, high voice grabbed both of their attention.

Lei floated closer, landing right in front of the blue Navi.

"Sorry I'm late, my last delivery took a little longer than I expected." She explained, smiling sheepishly at him.

MegaMan smiled kindly at her.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" He said.

She then lifted her blue eyes to the large screen above them, and noticed the human boy was staring intently at her.

"I want you to meet my NetOP - Lan!" MegaMan said, smiling.

"Hello." Lei greeted, smiling up and waving at him.

But Lan kept quiet and only continued his odd staring at the female NetNavi below him.

He then shifted his gaze to the blue Navi.

" _This_ is her?!" He asked, his brown eyes wide with confusion.

MegaMan glared up at him.

"Yes! Behave, please?" He answered him, crossing his arms at him.

Lan raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a joke? She's so cute! Cuter than Roll even!" He shifted his gaze back to Lei, "How can a Navi like you not be scared of Bass?"

MegaMan sighed deeply and facepalmed.

Lei only giggled.

"He's not scary at all, though." She said.

Lan was left speechless for a few moments.

"This is just way too unexpected!" Lan declared, scratching his head.

MegaMan smiled at Lei.

"Sorry about him.. " He apologized, grabbing her attention, "We've both known Bass for a very long time, you see.. So it's really hard for Lan to picture him having a girlfriend."

His last word caught her off guard.

 _'..Girlfriend..?'_ She thought to herself, _'Does that mean Bass is my..'_

She felt her cheeks start to get hot as she cupped her face with both of her hands.

"Um!" She chirped, raising her blue eyes to meet MegaMan's green ones, "This is getting kinda too embarrassing for me to talk about.." She admitted, feeling the hotness in her cheeks increase, causing both Navi and his NetOP to blush at her sincere reaction.

* * *

 **Promise**

Flying through the darkest depths of the UnderNet, Bass stopped as a strong light appeared from above him, blinding his eyes.

"You." He spat up at the tall, dark-skinned Navi, now floating before him.

Serenade only smiled kindly down at him.

"What is it?" Bass asked, glaring at him, "I made a promise to stay out of unnecessary trouble, but if you dare try and fight me I will not hesitate to kill you."

The ruler of the UnderNet placed one hand on his waist.

"I'm not here to fight, Bass." He said, chuckling down at him.

The cloaked Navi stayed silent as he continued;

"That promise you're talking about.. you made it with Lei, the delivery girl, am I right?" Serenade asked.

Bass narrowed his red eyes at him.

"And what if I did?" He said, watching him closely.

Serenade kept quiet for a few moments.

"She sure is cute, isn't she?" The tall Navi suddenly asked, smirking, causing Bass' red eyes to widen at his strange remark.

"Are you done with your nonsense?" Bass spat at him, feeling his patience quickly fading.

Serenade broke into a loud, sincere laugh. He then calmed down, his expression once again turning serene.

"You know, Bass, you must take good care of beautiful things, or else you might lose them." he said, his voice calm and collected.

Bass stayed silent for a while.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked him.

Serenade let out a soft sigh.

"Do you love Lei, Bass?"

This question caught the cloaked Navi off guard, and he floated back, burying the lower part of his face behind his cloak.

"That's none of your fucking business, fool!" He called at him, gritting his teeth.

Just what in the world was he planning? Asking him all of these embarrassing questions..

"It's okay Bass, you don't have to answer me." He said, smiling kindly at him.

 _'I already have my answer.'_ The ruler of the UnderNet thought to himself, then vanished into a strong, bright light once again.

Bass gritted his teeth.

 _'What the hell was that.'_ He thought to himself, raising his hand to his face and noticing how warm it feels, realizing how red he must be right now.

"Fuck!"

* * *

 **Jarro**

"-Did you hear?-"

"-Unbelievable-!"

"-To think that he was even interested in those kinds of things-"

"-I heard she's a simple delivery girl from the city!-"

"-There's just no fucking way-"

The old Navi blinked as he slowly woke up from the various, loud voices all around him.

He rose to his feet and sat on the single chair in his shop, rubbing his face.

Lifting his eyes to the street before him, he noticed various NetNavis passing his stand, all of them seem to be whispering about the same subject.

"Hey." he called to one of them, making him shift his attention to him, "What's all this damn noise about? What happened?"

With all this commotion, one could start accidentally thinking that maybe the CyberWorld was under attack again or something.

The Navi stepped closer.

"Haven't you heard, Jarro?" He asked him, "The Black Shadow of the UnderNet got himself a girl."

The old Navi's eyes shot open.

"Bass did?! Nonsense." He dismissed, scratching his back.

"It's true! many have already seen them together." The Navi said, his eyes wide.

Jarro stopped to think for a few moments.

"And who's she exactly?" The old Navi asked, squinting his eyes, his expression skeptic.

"Some delivery girl!" He answered him.

Jarro ran his words through his mind once again.

 _'Delivery.. girl..?'_ He thought to himself, his eyes widening with realization as he recalled the cloaked Navi's last visit to him.

The old Navi quickly broke into a loud and raspy laugh.

"Whaddya know..!" He said, scratching his back and coughing.

The Navi was left confused at his reaction.

"Well, see ya later Jarro. Take care." He said, then continued on his way.

The old Navi simply shook his head in disbelief, then raised his gaze to the sky.

"Well, he's still young after all." He said to himself, smiling.

* * *

 **House Visit**

Sitting on her bed with both hands resting in her lap, Lei felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

Her blue eyes traveled to the mirror as she caught her own reflection in it. Lei floated closer and let her gaze wander all over her features to see if anything needed a fix, only to find that everything was still in place.

She stared at herself for a few more moments.

"This is the first time Bass will be visiting my house.." She said with a quiet voice, noticing the hint of red forming in her cheeks.

She blinked as she raised her hand to gently touch the warm area.

Suddenly hearing knocks on her window behind her, Lei's gaze shifted to its reflection, as she noticed Bass was staring into her house, while floating outside her building.

Her blue eyes widened as she turned around all at once, then quickly floated above her bed and let the cloaked Navi in.

"I didn't expect you to enter through the window.." She told him, giggling.

Bass narrowed his eyes at the girl as she closed it behind him.

"Does it matter?" He asked, landing in the middle of her room and watching her closely.

Lei smiled softly at him.

"I guess not." She said, sitting herself on the bed below her.

Amused, she watched Bass as he examined every part of the room he was in, his red eyes going over the shelves on her wall and stopping on a picture of her, Mea and Dean.

She floated to her feet, then closer to him.

"Those are my friends." She said, raising her hand to point at who's who, "That's Mea, and that's Dean." Her gaze shifted to his face.

Bass' expression turned incredibly displeased as he recognized the male Navi.

"I want you to meet them someday.." She said, smiling sheepishly up at him.

She knew Bass and Dean would probably take a long time before they could get along with each other, but she also knew that it's really all just a matter of communication.

"I'm not promising that pathetic scum will survive." He said, glaring at the male Navi's image before him.

Lei crossed her arms at him.

"For now, let's just consider it as an option, okay?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Bass turned at her direction and stared down at her for a few moments in silence.

Lei smiled and floated to her bed, then sat down on top of the soft fabric.

She suddenly blinked as a new idea filled her mind.

"Do you have anyone you know besides MegaMan?" She asked him.

His lifestyle in the UnderNet was always interesting to her.

Bass blinked at her sudden question and kept silent for a few moments.

Lei tapped the surface of the bed next to her, inviting him to come sit as well, as the cloaked Navi simply stared at her gesture, then did as asked.

"I preferred to be alone, but I do have someone to collect my information from. I've known him since my early days in the UnderNet." He explained, noticing Lei was listening with her full attention, her blue eyes fixed on him, "But he's an old, perverted fool."

Lei kept silent and only stared at him.

 _'Only one person to talk to..'_ She thought to herself.

"How did you manage on your own?" Lei asked, her expression turning a bit sad.

Bass turned his gaze to the girl sitting next to him, and watched her closely.

"It was hard at first, but I was strong enough to survive. This 'Get Ability' that I was programmed with also helped me get stronger. Fighting became a habit over time." He said.

Lei kept silent for a few moments as she processed his words.

"Get Ability?" She asked him, her large blue eyes filled with interest.

The cloaked Navi stared at her.

"I can copy and save other Navis' fighting abilities." He explained, raising his hand in the air and demonstrating his skill before her, as tiny bolts of lightning shot out from his palm.

Lei's blue eyes widened.

"Does it hurt for the other Navi?" She asked him, raising her gaze back to meet his.

Bass stopped to think for a bit.

"It just copies." He said.

Lei smiled at him.

"Use it on me." She said, causing his red eyes to widen at her words.

"You don't even have a fighting ability, stupid." He explained, utterly confused at the girl sitting next to him.

Lei's expression was determined.

"I wanna know how it feels." She said, reaching out her small hand to him.

Bass stayed silent as he just stared at her with disbelief.

Then, he raised his large hand and held her small one, activating his special ability on her.

Lei blinked as she raised her gaze to him.

"That tickles." She said, giggling.

"I'm using an _extremely_ low amount." He admitted, raising an eyebrow at her, "You're too weak for the full dose. I don't know what it'll do."

She stared at him for a few moments in silence, as he let go of her hand.

"You're really interested in all this trivial nonsense, aren't you?" He asked her, his red eyes fixed on her.

Lei smiled softly at him.

"I'm really interested in you." She said.

Bass blushed at her sincere words, facing away from the girl sitting next to him.

Lei only giggled, causing him to shift his gaze back to her, his red eyes narrowing at her direction.

"Just what is so funny to you?" He asked, his face still red and his expression now slightly irritated.

Lei kept silent for a few moments.

"I love your reactions." She admitted, smiling widely at him.

He gritted his teeth at her as he felt his whole face turn red.

That smile of hers never failed to affect him. Not even once since they first met.

"If you don't shut up I'm gonna kiss you." He threatened her.

Lei stared up at him, as she felt her own face get red.

"How is that even a threat?" She asked him.

Bass said nothing as he simply leaned down at her direction, raising both of his hands to hold both sides of her head, as Lei kept still, letting their mouths meet once again.


End file.
